Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan on Sunday refuted criticism that his state was lifting COVID-19 restrictions, calling his state’s approach to virus safety “balanced.”
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, Hogan declared the state would “continue to follow the public health guidance and keep everybody safe.”
“We didn’t lift restrictions,” he said of Maryland’s higher capacity limits for gatherings.
“We kept the most serious measures in place, which is masking and distancing, which many states have changed. We did not,” he argued.
“I think we took a kind of a balanced approach to keep people safe and get back to work and support our small businesses,” he said. “Our metrics in every category from positivity rates to infection have been better than in many months. … we’re not through this.”
Hogan also disputed that Maryland lags behind in vaccinations, calling the issue one of supply.
“There there are a lot of different numbers you can utilize. It’s all based on supply so we’re 13th in the nation in the total number of doses,” he asserted.
“We’re number one in America in utilizing the [Johnson & Johnson one-dose] vaccine. I think we’re 15th and 16th in several other categories.”
“We can do 100,000 shots a day,” he said. “We hit 56,000 yesterday. We’re actually doing a much better job than at least 30 or 40 other states….We’re just waiting for more doses. We utilize 90-some percent we get almost immediately.”
According to Hogan, Maryland would easily beat President Joe Biden’s aim to have all state’s providing vaccines to anyone who wants one by May.
“We can do it today,” he said. “All we need is the vaccines from the federal government. We can’t purchase vaccines. We can’t manufacture vaccines. So if the president and his team is able to deliver, we don’t have to wait until May , we can get there faster.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported the most productive day for vaccinations was Feb. 26, when 2.8 million doses were administered around the nation.
Source: Newmax
