On march 5, i held a press conference informing marylanders that we had confirmed the first three positive cases of coronavirus in maryland. All stateo mobilize resources, i immediately declared a state of emergency. Since then, we have taken a series of bold, aggressive actions to successfully flatten the curve and avoid the nightmare scenario projected by Public Health experts. 34,000oday, we have had 34,008 hundred 12 confirmed cases of covid19 in maryland. 6404 have been hospitalized in the state. Tragically, 1694 marylanders have died from this disease. But together, our actions and sacrifices prevented hundreds of thousands of marylanders from being infected and saved the lives of thousands of our friends, neighbors, and family members. Causedobal pandemic has and is continuing to cause great , nothip for so many people just here in the state, but all across america and around the globe. For the victims and the families thehose who contracted deadly virus, for the Frontline Health care workers, the doctors, nurses, first smallders, for the Business Owners and employees who were fighting for economic survival, and the hundreds of thousands of marylanders and tens of millions of americans who suddenly lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are struggling to pay their bills or to put food on the table, this truly is one of the most daunting challenges that our state and nation has ever faced. Unfortunately, the fight against this deadly disease is far from over, but because of the incredible courage you have shown and the extraordinary sacrifices you have made, maryland and our nation can now at least begin to slowly recover. Introduced ago, we our maryland strong roadmap to gradual, andafe, effective plan which followed the guidelines issued by both the white house reopening plan for america and the National Governors associations guide to recovery for states, and Incorporated Many of the principles of the american toerprise institute road map reopening and the Johns Hopkins principles for a phased reopening. From ourolicit input team of scientists, Public Health, and Business Experts and our multi agency State GovernmentCoronavirus Team to create this well thought out Recovery Plan for maryland. The plan contained four essential Building Blocks that needed to be in place before we ourd begin stage one of recovery efforts. Expanded testing, increased hospital Surge Capacity and , and a robust Contact Tracing operation. We made it clear three weeks ago that if marylanders continued staying home and continued practicing physical distancing, we were hopeful that the key metrics we were tracking, the rate of hospitalizations, and the number of patients in icu would begin to plateau or decline in early may. Thateeks ago, we declared we were no longer just playing ,efense, but going on offense aggressively targeting and isolating outbreaks and clusters , focusing our attention and resources on the hotspot areas with the highest concentrations of cases, while increasing mitigation efforts on the remaining areas of the states. Last week with our Building Blocks in place and after a solid week of encouraging numbers, including a slight but significant decrease in hospitalizations and consistent plateauing of the icu numbers, our Coronavirus Recovery Team unanimously recommended revised guidelines that allow for elective medical procedures to resume at the discretion of local hospitals and health care providers, and the broadening of the list of safe outdoor activities. We also gave local governments the flexibility to take actions at their discretion. We have been continuing to closely follow the key metrics over the past week. Today, i am pleased to announce maryland has achieved the 14 day trend of plateauing and declining numbers. The number of coronavirus hospitalizations is down from two weeks ago. The number of covid icu patients has plateaued for a significant period of time and is trending down in the past 14 days. The rate of new deaths is also trending downward. To cautiously and safely begin stage i of the Recovery Plan. , may 15 athis friday be liftingwe will the stayathome order and moving instead to a safer at. Ome Public Health advisory based on extensive input from our Coronavirus Recovery Team and with guidance provided by fromomprehensive reports ar15 industry specific advisory groups, we are also issuing guidelines for the safe reopening of the following, beginning at 5 00 p. M. On friday may 15th. Retail stores in maryland may reopen with up to 50 capacity and with Strong Social , and other masks safety precautions while continuing to encourage Curbside Pickup and delivery. Manufacturing may resume operation in a safe manner which protects the health of employees with guidelines and encouraging multiple shifts, to limit the number of people working at the same time, limiting proximity of employees, and other safety precautions. Some personal Services Including barbershops and hair salons may capacity, byto 50 appointment only and with appropriate health and safety guidelines. Pet groomers, animal adoption shelters, carwashes, Art Galleries and other activities will also be able to begin reopening. Housesnd hustlers of worship may begin to safely hold religious services. Such and worship are essential part of the lives of so many people. Holding services outside is strongly encouraged. Religious leaders are strongly urged to do Everything Possible to keep their congregants safe and particularly to protect the elderly and vulnerable in their congregations. Be permittedes may at 50 capacity or less with appropriate distancing, masking, and safety protocols strongly advised. Reopening businesses are encouraged to take the maryland strong back to Business Pledge, which will help assure customers and members of the public that they are adhering to best practices and strict safety guidelines in order to keep marylanders safe. This back to big Business Pledge can be printed and posted on your storefront by visiting open. Maryland. Gov back to business. Yesterday, i let another call with county executives and local officials from every jurisdiction in the state. That asd county leaders we begin to slowly cautiously lifts restrictions at the state that we are providing for a flexible, communitybased approach which empowers individual county leaders to make decisions regarding the timing of stage i reopenings in their individual jurisdictions. As the state cautiously moves forward, we fully understand that not all counties are in the same situation. Marylands 24 jurisdictions currently account for more than 70 of our states total confirmed cases. Prince georges and montgomery counties have the highest number of cases, and have made it clear they are not yet ready to move into stage i. Many other counties with a lower number of cases feel that they are able to do so. Want to be very clear while lifting the stayathome moving intoadually stage i of the recovery is a positive step forward, it does safe or that we are that this crisis is over. Low risk does not mean no risk. All marylanders, particularly those older and more vulnerable populations are advised to continue staying home as much as possible. Employers should continue to encourage telework for employees whenever possible. Individuals who can work from home should continue to do so. People should continue way continue Wearing Masks in indoor public areas, retail stores, and on public transportation. Outsidethat in general, activity is safer than inside activity, and that at all times and everywhere, marylanders should continue practicing physical distancing and trying to stay six feet apart and to continue avoiding close gatherings of 10 people are more. Everyone should keep washing their hands often and frequently sanitizing high touch areas. States want activities to resume successfully without a spike in hospitalizations, sustained spike in icu cases or a significant unforeseen outbreak of Widespread Community transmission, then we will be and transmission to move to stage two of the plan. Truthunately, the painful is that this virus will continue to be with us and to be a part of our daily life and potential outbreaks will continue to until a deadly threat vaccine is widely available. Each and every one of us has an obligation to continue to exercise responsibility for ourselves, our families, coworkers, and fellow marylanders. Community together, we can begin to safely get back to work and back to our daily lives. As we begin stage i of our assure everyant to maryland or who may feel uneasy and anyone who is concerned that we are moving either to quickly each andowly that every decision we make is both factbased and sciencebased land is made only after extensive consultation with our expert Coronavirus Recovery Team. Are continuing the continually monitoring the crisis. On clusters,used outbreaks, and hotspots. We remain ready to quickly and decisively respond to any changes in the facts on the ground that we will continue to attack this virus with every tool at our disposal. Uss crisis has tested all of in nearly every way imaginable, but it has also revealed the true character of marylanders. It has shown our ability to and our any challenge capacity to show remarkable face of grave threats and overwhelming obstacles. Maryland has been and will remain at the forefront of fighting this pandemic. We are producing essential equipment for Frontline Health care heroes and driving innovations to treat this disease, to create a vaccine, and save lives. We are showing, america and the world the power of compassion, generosity, and strength. We still have miles to go on we are all in it ,ogether, and if we stay strong maryland strong, we will get through this together. With that, i will be happy to take questions. Those out there who have said it is not time yet to open the doors. How confident are you Going Forward that you may still be able to keep it under control . Hogan these are all difficult decisions and something we have been working on for many weeks and its part of the plan we rolled out about three weeks ago. We have been constantly watching and looking at this and talking to the experts and in consultation with local leaders and scientists and doctors and Business Leaders. We are hopeful the plan is the right one but we will continue to watch and continue to monitor this on a daily basis. But we believe it is the right decision at this point in time and from all the input we have gotten, some people think we are moving too fast and some think we are moving too slow, so its probably about the right move. You mentioned there are a couple of jurisdictions that will not reopen. Anything [indiscernible] gov. Hogan i think there are concerns about that yes. Did any of the other experts get in on this . Gov. Hogan yes. A couple weeks ago there are slight declines, but [indiscernible] gov. Hogan when i laid out the plan three weeks ago, i said we wanted to see a plateau of the numbers. Actually, we have a leveling, lehto and, flattening, and of the numbers and its what we were hoping for. Lifting the stay at home order, does that mean the outofstate travel ban is no longer mandatory and the quarantine that goes along with it . Justhogan they were both recommendations, there never was an order regarding a mandatory quarantine. We were just advising people that they should consider quarantining. It was never part of an order. We are still asking people to exercise caution and good judgment, but it wasnt part of any stayathome order. Any plans to close that aura you have thedo numbers today . Ifot of Business Owners say we dont get back soon, i cant hang in any longer. What advice do you have two folks doing their best to stay open . Gov. Hogan the first question, the goal was not to fill up surge hospitals. It was to have them on hand and not fill them up. The idea was to stop 300,000 infections and 12,000 deaths predicted and that is what we were successfully doing. We need to have Surge Capacity in case we did and or do get spikes. Im happy the surge hospitals are not away flowing overflowing, but im happy we have them on hand in case we need them. With respect to the businesses, i am a lifelong Small Business owner who ran for office because i wanted to grow Small Businesses and put people to work and grow the economy and this is the worst since the great depression. I feel for those Business Owners. I understand they want to get reopen and people need to get back to work, but we are going about this in what we believe to be a safe way and trying to take into consideration economic and health considerations, and we did it in conjunction with all the best advice from all of the plans, in conduction conjunction with Business Leaders and scientists and we are trying to move at the right pace. I am anxious to move into phase two and get things reopening, but it depends on how everyone treats the first phase. If everyone goes crazy and does things that are unsafe, we will balloon back up and slow down the process. If everyone moves responsibly, we can move forward quicker. With the expanding opening up businesses, will Childcare Services be expanded to accommodate workers that were previously nonessential . Gov. Hogan that is one of the big things we are grappling with. Now with theacity essential workers and daycares opening by the School System and we are broadening that to include people going back to work, but doc or karen is working on a reopening plan which i think we will have early next week to get safely reopened additional day cares for folks going back to work. [indiscernible] is there a concern about the fact that maryland is on a 25 or 26 positivity rating . Gov. Hogan part of that is because we flattened the curve and took early and aggressive action. We are hitting a little later in the process than other places that ballooned like around the country because of actions we took, but part of it is because of the Population Centers in the baltimorewashington corridor. They say 74 percent are in four counties. I think 50 is in the counties surrounding washington. Washington, prince georges, and Montgomery County and Northern Virginia are the hotspots in the country behind new york. Muchn you tell us how talks with virginia officials you have, and how things look Going Forward . Gov. Hogan we have had great, ongoing, continuing discussions and collaboration with both the district and virginia. We just had a discussion, i believe friday, with Governor Northam and mayor bowser. We are more in sync i guess with d. C. ,virginia is then because we are more alike. We have urban, suburban, and rural areas, whereas the district is more of an urban area. The district issues look more Like NorthernDivision Virginia and washington suburbs. It is not the same as Eastern Shore or western maryland or southern virginia. We certainly have good input from both of them and took into consideration what was going on in both the district and virginia and i think we are all in accord on whats going on and working together on regional issues. [inaudible] will you be monitoring the numbers of those counties that i some point say your numbers, they have to move it along . Handling that . Gov. Hogan we will do everything we can to continue to assist county executives and Prince Georges County. They do have a serious problem. They do have the highest infection rate and number of cases. Thats why we focus so much of our attention and why we are on hospital Surge Capacity. We are trying to focus more testing. Issuesrstand exactly the they are dealing with and trying to provide support. We are in constant communication. We had a great conversation. We will work collaboratively with her. We do not want them to do anything they feel is unsafe. I think we will jointly be following the progress and we want them to get numbers down. We want collectively to say we have made great progress and Prince Georges County is ready, but we dont want them to do it when they dont feel safe. Anthony brown put out a saying [inaudible] we talked about that in the county call yesterday with all of the county leaders. I think Anthony Brown is confused, i dont think he understands the difference between swabs and test extraction kits and test kits. A lot of people are confused about this. There are nine different components that go into the testing. We have a huge supply of test kits. We have a half million of them. They never, ever go out to the counties. They never will. Those go to the labs. That is what the Scientists Use to do the actual, when they finalize the testing, they dont go out to anywhere. What goes out to the counties are the swabs and the extraction tubes. They stick the thing in your nose, put it in a plastic tube with an agent, and send it to the lab, who takes that test kit and does the study and gets the result and sends it back. Thanve been great, better almost anyone in the country with test kits. We were able to get a halfmillion test kits, but we were very short as was everyone in the country on swabs, reagents, and lab capacity. On the lab capacity, we invested in the university of maryland ahead of schedule on a new lab that will be able to process 20,000 tests a day. We went from 50 tests to 8000. The initial goal was 10,000. Thats where we should be shortly. We are up to speed on that. We just yesterday got our first swabs and extraction kits from fema which we have and asking for for months. We told the counties that we would get it out to them shortly so that they can start to do more testing. Talkingony brown was about, why havent we sent test kits that go to labs out to the counties . Thats never going to happen and it was never part of the plan. Of the 1000 swabs you requested from fema, how many came in the first shipment . Gov. Hogan we requested 350,000. They committed to 225,000. I think we got 75,000 yesterday with another 125,000 that are supposedly days away. Along with the tubes and the stuff that goes with them. And what we have been able to do so far is all the nursing homes, all the hotspots where we have been using them, but the counties are short of those things. There were no swabs really in america and one place in the world that made them in italy. The president used the defense production act to force companies in america to produce swabs. Fema is slowly getting that amount to us slowly but i announced that was the big thing we were missing. Thank you. Thank you. Cspan has unfiltered coverage to the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic with ourtes from congress and daily callin Program Washington journal, hearing your thoughts about the Coronavirus Crisis and if you missed any of our coverage watch anytime on demand cspan. Org coronavirus. From rickestimony blight, whose focus was Vaccine Development and was recently removed from his post. We will hear from mr. Bright on. Cientific integrity on tuesday, congressman kevin brady the Ranking Member of the ways and Means Committee talked about how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted texas. The American Council for Capital Formation hosted this 30 minute event. Thank you mike and welcome congressman brady and welcome to our audience. Acc aay that the cdf is not in the news but the developments are reported inhe