Maryland governor criticizes Trump on virus response

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The nation's governors were priming for battle against the coronavirus as early as February, but President Donald Trump's lackadaisical approach to the spreading disease hindered a national response, according to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, chairman of the National Governors Association.

Trump initially was “downplaying" the threat and saying “this virus is going to disappear," despite grave warnings from top national experts, Hogan told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

“All of the leaders in the administration, the experts and the public health doctors at the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they were aware and providing this information. And yet it seemed as if the president was downplaying it and saying, you know, this virus is going to disappear,” Hogan said.

The biggest mistake in the first couple of months, the governor said, was not developing a national testing strategy.

"Throughout the pandemic, it (the federal government) was not assisting the states enough with testing and now as it’s spiking back up again and we have a resurgence of this virus all across the country, the No. 1 thing we can do is to put more into testing and contact tracing to identify and stop the spread,” Hogan said.

Hogan criticized the president repeatedly in his upcoming book, "Still Standing: Surviving Cancer, Riots, a Global Pandemic and the Toxic Politics that Divide America,” which is set for release July 28.

In the book, Hogan highlights a closed-door meeting in Washington on Feb. 9 between governors and leading health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert and Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hogan wrote the governors received a...