Gov. Hogan makes his way around Frederick

Jun. 23—Employees leaned over their cubicles, exchanging proud glances and soft smiles — now visible with mask mandates lifted — as Gov. Larry Hogan (R) made his way to a slightly elevated stage at the front of the room.

Hogan stopped by Thermo Fisher Scientific Tuesday, and he praised the state's flourishing tech and life science sectors. It was the governor's second stop on a whirlwind tour of Frederick that started with an appearance at a change of command event on Fort Detrick and ended at Flying Dog Brewery.

"Maryland, as a whole, is really growing in this life sciences area. Frederick is becoming kind of a shining spot for that," Hogan said.

After touring biotechnology and cybersecurity labs at Thermo Fisher, Hogan fielded questions from employees as part of a 25-minute town hall.

The governor discussed Maryland's progress in subduing COVID-19 infections and deaths. New cases, deaths, positivity rates and hospitalizations have dropped sharply over the past month.

Hogan did, however, express concern for future airborne virus outbreaks.

While more than half of the state's population is fully vaccinated against COVID, and more than 70 percent of Marylanders have received at least one dose, Hogan said he is worried emerging variants of the virus will spread among the unvaccinated.

"If [COVID] keeps mutating, my biggest concern is the confluence with the flu season," he said.

The governor recognized the role that biotechnology companies like Thermo Fisher have played — and will continue to play — in the fight against viral outbreaks.

"This is not the last time this is going to happen," he said in reference to the pandemic.

Thermo Fisher's facility in Frederick normally manufactures reagents, or chemicals, used for diagnostics and research for cancer and other diseases, said Mauricio Minotta, the company's public relations director. The facility is also a mass distribution site for the company, sending products all over the country and world.

When the pandemic hit, Minotta said, the facility began manufacturing the raw ingredients used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab tests and distributed company products, including vaccine freezers, across the U.S. and to European and Asian countries.

Hogan also discussed the growing threat of cyberattacks that U.S. companies face. Frederick is home to Thermo Fisher's monitoring center for cybersecurity threats, which manages the company's systems to combat hacking, Minotta said.

In early May, a hacking group launched a ransomware attack that crippled the computer system managing the Colonial Pipeline, forcing the company to pay a $4.4 million ransom and sending Americans into panicked gas buying.

"Your cybersecurity effort is critically important to the life-saving work that your colleagues are working on," he told Thermo Fisher employees. "We got to be on guard all of the time."

Hogan's Frederick excursion concluded at Flying Dog Brewery, where he and Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz (R) toured the facility before the governor departed for Dog's Day Farm in Gaithersburg.

Schulz announced in April her campaign for governor. Hogan chimed in at the brewery that he thinks "she'd make a terrific governor."

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter:

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