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FROM THE GOVERNOR'S PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY. KATE. >> WELL, THIS IS A FIRST. THE WAY I DID IT AND THE FACT THAT HE DID IT AT ALL, MARYLAND'S GOVERNOR BROKERED A DEAL WITH SOUTH KOREA TO BUY 500,000 TESTS, THAT'S ABOUT 5,000 TEST KITS IN ALL. IT IS SOMETHING APPARENTLY NO OTHER STATE AND NO FEDERAL AGENCY HAD ATTEMPTED. >> THE ADMINISTRATION MADE IT CLEAR OVER AND OVER AGAIN THEY WANT THE STATES TO TAKE THE LEAD AND WE HAVE TO GO OUT AND DO IT OURSELVES SO THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE DID. >> THE GOVERNOR CALMED IT AN EXPONENTIAL GAME CHANGING STEP FORWAR A SECRET, MONTH-LONG MISSION TO BUY HALF A MILLION CORONAVIRUS TESTS FROM SOUTH KOREA CALLED "OPERATION ENDURING FRIENDSHIP MADE POSSIBLE BY HIS WIFE, YUMI KIM, WHO IS THE FIRST KOREAN-AMERICAN FIRST LADY IN AMERICAN HISTORYGOVERNO HOGAN SA LAUNCH 22-DAYS OF NEGOTIATIONS, DIPLOMACY, NEGOTIATIONS, AND RESEARCH AND REACHED A HUGE POINT ON SATURDAY. >> ON SATURDAY, THE FIRST LADY AND I STOOD ON THE TARMAC AT BWI AIRPORT TO WELCOME THE FIRST-EVER KOREA AIR PASSENGER PLANNED PARENTHOOD, A BOEING 777, WHICH HAD NO PASSENGERS BUT WHICH WAS CARRYING A VERY IMPORTANT PAYLOAD. >> $9 MILLION WORTH OF CORONAVIRUS TESTS FROM SOUTH KOREA. A HUGE STEP, THE GOVERNOR SAYS, TOWARDS REOPENING THE ECONOMY AND EASING EMERGENCY RESTRICTIONS. BE OUR STATE'S EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ONE INFORMED BY SCIENCE AND RESEARCH POURING IN SHOWING THAT WITH MAST TESTING, ROBUST CONTRACT TRACING AND EXTREME SOCIAL DISTANCING, IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONTAIN AND SUPPRESS THE CORONAVIRUS. >> THE INCREDIBLE SUCCESS OF OPERATION ENDURE, FRIENDSHIP HAS NOT ONLY PUT US ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL, BUT IT LITERALLY WILL HELP SAVE THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF MARYLANDER >> THE GOVERNOR SAID THE NEW GOAL IS TO HIT 20,000 TESTS A DAY AND SOME PARTS OF THE STATE MAY REOPEN BEFORE OTHERS. SOMETHING HE WILL DISCUSS MORE LATER IN THE WEE

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Maryland has obtained hundreds of thousands of coronavirus tests from South Korea, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday afternoon.|| Coronavirus updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Rumor Control ||Following weeks of diplomatic discussions and procurement efforts as part of Operation Enduring Friendship, the state of Maryland has acquired 500,000 coronavirus tests from LabGenomics in South Korea, Hogan said."Each part of this international collaboration was unprecedented," Hogan said. "It literally will help save the lives of thousands of Marylanders."The governor called it an exponential, game-changing step forward, saying adequate testing is one of the "four critical building blocks of our Maryland Strong Roadmap to Recovery."The governor said he and first lady Yumi Hogan made a personal plea in Korean to South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. on March 28. He said they spoke of the "special relationship" between Maryland and the Republic of Korea. That call set in motion 22 days of vetting and negotiations.Yumi Hogan is the first Asian first lady in the history of Maryland. She is also the first Korean American first lady of any state in the history of the United States, "which is why Maryland is proud to have such a special bond with South Korea," the governor said."She truly is a champion of this operation," Gov. Hogan said.Gov. Hogan said Maryland owes an "incredible debt of gratitude" to South Korea for putting the state on track to achieve goal of widespread testing.Coronavirus tests arrive in Maryland from South KoreaGov. Hogan said a Korean Air flight landed Saturday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport carrying 5,000 test kits from South Korea."On Saturday, the first lady and I stood on the tarmac at BWI Airport to welcome the first-ever Korean Air passenger plane, a Boeing 777, which had no passengers, but which was carrying a very important payload," Gov. Hogan said.The 500,000-test capacity is roughly equal to the total amount of testing that has been completed by four of the top five states in America combined, the governor said.The governor said the tests will cost the state around $9 million.The New York Times first reported Monday morning about the procurement. The Times reported that the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies gave their seal of approval as the plane was landing.Gov. Hogan told the Times via telephone: "I was frosted because my team was saying that the FDA approval was going to hold it up. I didn't care and was going to get the tests anyway.""As Maryland begins its reopening and recovery, Marylanders should feel confident in knowing that we have done everything in our power, gone to every length, and used every tool and every resource at our disposal to defeat this deadly virus," Gov. Hogan said.Watch the governor's press conference in its entirety:Maryland's emergency response is one informed by science and research pouring in that shows that with mass testing, robust contact tracing and extreme social distancing, it is possible to contain and suppress the coronavirus.As of Monday, morning, Maryland has at least 13,684 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 516 confirmed deaths. More numbers here.'Without testing, we're driving blind'The governor said Maryland has expanded testing capability by over 5,000% and has completed more than 71,000 tests to date. Last week, the state secured an additional 40,000 tests and the state invested $2.5 million to help the University of Maryland-Baltimore lab handle up to 20,000 tests per day, Hogan said."This is extraordinary. We need testing. We need increased testing capacity," said Dr. Jason Farley, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a nurse practitioner in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine. Farley, who has also been working on Baltimore City's testing team during the pandemic, called Hogan's deal to get the tests from South Korea a game-changer."With the increased testing capacity, I think first and foremost is we'll be able to expand beyond just patients with symptoms," Farley said.Farley said the ability to test people who don't have symptoms, which isn't taking place now, will give everyone a much more accurate indication of the spread of the virus.Contact tracing -- being able to identify people who have possibly come in contact with infected patients -- is a big part of the governor's roadmap to recovery."So if you have tested positive, we need to know who you've come in contact with so that the public health department and others can reach out," Farley said. "Without testing, we're driving blind. We can't make adequate decision making without this test."The governor has repeatedly said the lack of testing is Maryland's biggest problem in the pandemic.Hogan fills federal void to get more testingAs governor and chairman of National Governors Association, Gov. Hogan has repeatedly pushed federal officials to get more test kits and supplies to administer and process those tests."We've been doing everything in our power to acquire more tests from the federal government. Unfortunately, we have also had to compete with every state in America in our attempts to procure the tests from every domestic producer in the U.S. and from sources around the globe," Gov. Hogan said.Federal officials have failed to respond, which 11 News reported from Federal Emergency Management Agency documents released by a House oversight committee a few weeks ago that shows Maryland received none of the 100,000 swabs requested."The administration made it clear over and over again they want the states to take the lead, and we have to go out and do it ourselves, and so that's exactly what we did," Hogan said.President Donald Trump referenced Maryland's governor Monday evening during his daily coronavirus press conference, saying: "The governor from Maryland didn't really understand the list (of labs). He didn't really understand too much about what was going on."At 9:13 p.m., Gov. Hogan tweeted: “I’m grateful to President Trump for sending us a list of federal labs and generously offering Maryland use of them for #COVID19 testing. Accessing these federal labs will be critical for utilizing the 500,000 tests we have acquired from South Korea.”Gov. Hogan emphasized that there is still much work to be done to get the tests distributed to where they need to be. He said the goal is to have 20,000 tests completed per day in the state.Gov. Hogan said he hopes the efforts will be a huge step toward keeping more Marylanders safe, easing restrictions and reopening the economy."I don't know if it's going to demolish the curve, but it's certainly a going to enable us to open on a much safer way, and to help us to protect a lot of folks," Hogan said.Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot praised the governor's efforts, saying in a statement released Monday afternoon: "The widespread use of testing conducted by the South Korean government has been cited as a chief catalyst for the sharp decline of infections in that country ... Given the absence of a strong federal coordinated response, states have had to fill the void of national leadership."The governor said he will be announcing a recovery plan later this week that includes a robust contact tracing operation, increasing the PPE supply, increasing hospital surge capacity and the capability to do widespread testing.