Trump Told America’s Governors They Were On Thei
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At 1 P.M., Hogan settles back at the table for today’s governors-only teleconference. Forty-four governors have dialed in to the call, the 16th Hogan has convened since the start of the pandemic. “My question is, for those who received the Abbott machines, we received 15, but we only received 120 cartridges and/or kits we could actually test with,” says Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky. “Is anybody getting any more of these kits from the federal government?”
The rapid-testing device made by Abbott Laboratories, a sleek white gizmo the size of a bread box, was touted by Trump in a March 29 Rose Garden press conference. The President called the machine, which can produce a result in as little as five minutes, “a whole new ballgame.” The truth fell far short of that boast.
“Andy, this is Andrew,” New York’s Governor Cuomo replies. “My experience is, these companies will sell the machines, which are several million dollars each, but then they don’t deliver the test kits and the reagents. And then they say the federal government is doing the allocation of the test kits.” (In a statement, Abbott said the allotment to states was “only a fraction” of its tests.)
Two more governors say they’ve faced some of the same difficulties, while another says she can’t even figure out whom in Washington to call about tests. (Hogan gives her a name.) Several of the governors complain that the Administration seems less interested in helping than in finding ways to shift blame to the states.