Hogan: PG County Will Be At Top Of List For Coronavirus Testing

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called Prince George's County a "hotspot" for the coronavirus Wednesday. As such, the county would be at the top of the list for receiving a boost in community-based testing for COVID-19, the illness associated with the new coronavirus.

Hogan made the remarks at the very end of a press briefing, in which he discussed his executive order to require universal COVID-19 testing at all nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the state.

On March 30, the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard opened the state's first COVID-19 screening and testing facility at FedEx Field in Prince George's County.

"They're the first ones that we set up," Hogan said. "We're doing more testing in Prince George's County than anywhere else. It is a hotspot."

The governor confirmed that Prince George's County would be at the top the list for further testing after Maryland completes its screening of nursing homes throughout the state, as well as testing of health-care workers and first responders.

"Prince George's County will certainly be at the top of the list of where some of the community testing is going to be done, it has been done, and it will continue being done, both with those tests and the others that we're getting," Hogan said.

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Last week, Hogan made headlines when he announced Maryland had purchased 500,000 COVID-19 tests from South Korea.

Hogan said Wednesday that he had two conversations with Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks over last week about acquiring more tests for the county, one at the opening of the Laurel Hospital Center and the other during a call with county leaders.

"I told her, as soon as we got the tests, everybody's like, 'Hey, can we have 100,000 tests? Can you just ship them over?'" he said. "I explained that it's not that simple. First of all, the state is going to maintain those tests, we're not just send them off to people. There's about a nine-step process that requires swabs and reagents and the lab capacity."

On Wednesday morning, the Maryland Department of Health confirmed 242 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the overall total to 5,738 confirmed positive cases. In addition, 213 have died from the illness.

Prince George's County still has the highest number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus of any county in the state, according to the latest data from the Maryland Department of Health. Second on the list is Montgomery County, with a total of 4,152 positive infections.

Also see ...

• 18 New Coronavirus Deaths in PG County; Over 5,700 Total Cases
  
• MD Buys 500K Coronavirus Tests From South Korea: Hogan
  
• All MD Nursing Homes Must Do Universal Coronavirus Testing: Hogan
  
• Hogan To Outline MD Coronavirus Reopening, Touts Hospital Opening
  
• PG County Coronavirus Screening Center Opens At FedEx Field