Maryland residents will no longer be required to stay at home, but they will be strongly advised to continue to do so, especially if they are older and more vulnerable to the coronavirus, Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday as he announced a statewide order that will take effect later this week.
The Republican governor said the state is gradually moving into stage one of the state’s recovery plan at 5 p.m. Friday, after 14 days of plateauing of key hospital metrics. He also said the decision came after consultation with a state team of public health experts and business leaders.
Retail stores may reopen at up to 50% capacity, with curbside pickup and delivery strongly encouraged and all public health precautions in place. Examples of businesses that may reopen include clothing and shoe stores, pet groomers, animal adoption shelters, car washes, art galleries and bookstores.
All manufacturing may resume operations, with multiple shifts encouraged.
STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group.
Churches and houses of worship may start holding religious services, at up to 50% capacity, with outdoor services strongly encouraged.
Some personal services, including barbershops and hair salons, may open with up to 50% capacity and by appointment only.
Maryland residents are still urged to work from home if they can. A requirement that people wear masks in public areas indoors will remain in effect. Limits prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people will remain in place, with the exception of religious gatherings.
The plan provides a flexible and community-based approach that enables individual jurisdictions to make decisions on the timing of stage one reopenings. Local governments can keep restrictions in place, but they can only act within the guidelines announced by the governor.
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
I’ll be your headline meant “Lifts.” C’mon, a little proofreading!
This is confusing as the Mayor (who is dumb as dirt by the way) said that the city is not ready to reopen. In Baltimore the front of your house can be in the city and the back is in the county. Is the Mayor saying that criminals in Baltimore city can’t continue murdering people as they must continue to “stay at home”? If the barber is located a few blocks from my home and is in the area designated as the city he can’t open? I don’t get it…..
He left matters local option. Outside of five urban/suburban countries, Maryland is “red”, and those counties are furious about the closings since they haven’t been affected much by Covid19 (and in all fairness, based on the numbers, neither as Maryland, the main impacts were economic due to government policies, not large numbers of people dying).
Also Montgomery County wants to have autonomy. They say Maryland is too big to make a blanket rule. Yet Montgomery County is huge and, by that thinking, also too big. If we thought the pandemic and the shutdown were problematic, we haven’t seen anything yet.
Don’t insult dirt.
Baltimore County and the Mayor of Baltimore have both said they are not ready for Phase 1. Maryland doesn’t seem to be starting Phase 1 after all. The state is starting it at 5pm today but many counties are not. I don’t have an issue with counties delaying if the local conditions warrant it. However in Montgomery County they are adding 3 metrics in addition to the two that the state is looking for.