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October 17, 2021

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Health Health Homepage

Md. Health Secretary Pushes Back as Senators Call for Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccines in Schools

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Senators continued to push Maryland Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader to exercise his authority to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for eligible school-age students Monday.

“I brought this up in the last briefing last month and you weren’t sure that you had the authority to do so and it sounds like this month, you’re still uncertain and not willing to explore that as a possibility,” Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard) said at a meeting of the Senate Vaccine Oversight Workgroup Monday. “I hope that next month you’ll be able to bring back some additional considerations as to how you can improve those rates in schools through a mandatory vaccination program in conjunction with [the Maryland State Department of Education].”

According to a presentation from the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability for the Department of Legislative Services, since school has been in session, the sharpest increase in COVID positivity rates in the state has been among children.

About 72% of children between 12 and 17 years old have received at least one shot.

Lam asked Schrader what is being done to encourage eligible minors to get vaccinated.

Schrader said that the Department of Health has “two tracks of priority:” getting booster shots in the arms of the state’s most vulnerable and tracking down the nearly one million eligible Marylanders who have yet to get vaccinated.

But Schrader also clearly demonstrated his disinterest in mandating COVID-19 vaccines for school-aged students.

Under Maryland’s education code, the Department of Health has the ability to issue regulations that require students to be inoculated to attend school.

“You do have the tool to be able to require vaccination of students going into schools,” said Lam. “Is that right, is that something that you’re looking at?”

Schrader responded “not at the moment.” He said there have been conversations about working with school systems to increase the vaccination rate in 12- to 17-year-olds but he wants to respect local school districts’ authority.

“We really need to rely on the schools to help us with this,” Schrader said. “They’re autonomous and we want to make sure we respect that autonomy in working with them.”

Lam, a physician, pushed back and said the state is falling short on protecting its kids.

“I am concerned about the spread of COVID in our schools and you have a tool that you can use as the secretary to require this to be required vaccination and students coming into our schools, but it sounds as though [the Department of Health] is not reaching for this tool or is not willing to do so,” he said.

Schrader said the health department’s focus now is increasing the rate for routine vaccinations in elementary school students.

“We want to make sure that those are taken care of, but we’ll go back and take a look at your suggestion,” he said.

After other senators pressed the health department to take more decisive action, Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s) grew frustrated and asked Schrader where the buck stops: with the State Department of Education or with the Department of Health?

“So, we have the adults pointing fingers at each other while the kids are suffering and the parents are suffering,” he said.

Rosapepe told Schrader that he should exercise the power he has to mandate the vaccine in schools.

But, “if for whatever political reason” he decides not to do that, Rosapepe suggested that the Department of Health “aggressively work with the school systems to identify in every school which kids have been vaccinated which kids haven’t been vaccinated” through the state’s ImmuNet vaccination record system and bring mobile vaccination units to those locations.

Rosapepe also proposed rating school systems like the Department of Health rates nursing homes based on their rates of vaccination.

“A couple of suggestions if you’re not willing to go with mandatory vaccinations,” he said.

By Hannah Gaskill

Hogan Makes Booster Shots Available to Nursing Home Residents, People With Health Issues

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Marylanders age 65 and over who live in nursing homes and other congregate care facilities became eligible for COVID-19 booster shots on Tuesday, under an order from Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R).

Seniors who live in assisted living facilities, residential drug treatment centers, and group homes for people with disabilities also became eligible for the shots, which health experts have said can bolster protection against the coronavirus.

Gov. Larry Hogan

Hogan issued the order after the state’s Antibody Testing Program determined that more than 60% of vaccinated residents had “some form of waning immunity over time, and showed that as many as one-in-three are now particularly vulnerable.”

He also cited an Israeli study which concluded that a booster — typically a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines — led to an 11-fold reduction in infections and a ten-fold decrease in severe illness.

“All of the evidence makes it abundantly clear that we cannot afford to delay taking decisive action to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” Hogan said.

The state’s research tested more than 500 nursing home residents.

The state Health Department also issued guidance on Tuesday ordering all pharmacies and health providers to provide a booster shot “without any need for a prescription or a doctor’s order to anyone who considers themselves to be immunocompromised,” Hogan said.

“No one in this category should be turned away from receiving a booster,” he added.

The governor said Maryland has a strong supply of vaccine and does not anticipate reopening mass vaccination sites when the general public becomes eligible for booster shots.

A potential White House hopeful in 2024, Hogan continued his criticism of the federal government, saying that states “have had to operate without clear guidance” from the CDC or FDA as to when booster shots will be recommended for people under age 65 and those without health conditions.

“The limited guidance we have received has been confusing and contradictory,” Hogan said, echoing complaints he made on a Sunday talk show, “and it is still unclear when and how more people will become eligible.”

According to the state Department of Health, an average of 17 of every 100,000 Marylanders tested positive over the last week, a 15% decrease since the beginning of September.

Hogan said his administration is “proud” that Maryland is unlike the states that have “spiking numbers… with their case-rates surging out of control and their hospitals overflowing.”

According to the CDC, community transmission of COVID is “high” in 19 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdiction, and “substantial” in the remaining five. 

Hogan also announced a $3 million “Community COVID-19 Vaccination Project,” which he described as a “door-to-door canvassing effort to directly engage Marylanders living in areas with low vaccination rates and in effort to encourage more vaccinations.”

The project will also provide health education in “at-risk neighborhoods.”

“The vaccines are the single most effective way to protect people from severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” he said, adding that only 0.2% of fully-vaccinated Marylanders have been hospitalized.

At a time when right-wing media personalities and outlets are touting unproven treatments, Hogan encouraged people who test positive and begin to experience symptoms to consult with their health-care provider about monoclonal antibody therapy.

“These monoclonal antibodies are the only approved and effective treatment for COVID-positive individuals who are symptomatic but not yet severe enough to require hospitalization,” Hogan said.

Maryland has completed more than 10,000 infusions at 30 facilities, Hogan said, an effort that has cut hospitalizations and deaths significantly.

By Bruce DePuyt

Gov. Hogan Orders Assessment of Ventilation, Air Filtration in School Buildings

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Governor Larry Hogan today announced that he is directing the State Superintendent of Schools and the Interagency Commission on School Construction to conduct an immediate statewide assessment of ventilation and air filtration in Maryland public school buildings.

The governor made the announcement at Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Public Works:

“I know we are all pleased to see students returning to in-person instruction in every school system across the state. Unfortunately, this week, schools all over Baltimore City, including 31 just yesterday, had to dismiss students early due to the lack of proper air conditioning.

“It’s unbelievable to me that this is still happening after the Comptroller and I have worked together for the last six years to push to get every school air conditioned, and to provide record funding for every school to be air conditioned, and our nonstop efforts to hold schools accountable.

“We were successful in requiring Baltimore City to reluctantly create a plan to finally bring air conditioning to all their schools, even against fierce opposition from legislative leaders. But in spite of them putting plans together, the work was not actually completed.

“We established a Healthy Schools Facilities Fund to provide additional state-funded grants to public schools specifically to make urgently needed emergency air conditioning and heating upgrades. Baltimore City returned the money to the state after failing to spend it on the improvements.

“Our administration has provided seven years of record funding to our schools—all of our schools across the state and even more to Baltimore City schools. Among the 100 largest school systems in America, Baltimore is the third highest funded school system, which makes it even more inexcusable.

“Earlier this year, we enacted a historic school construction plan with record funding to make sure that all school buildings across the entire state were modern, safe, efficient, and air conditioned. Protecting students from the sweltering heat is critically important, and city leaders have continued to fail in this regard. But the problem goes far beyond that now because of COVID-19.

“Our public health experts have repeatedly stressed that proper ventilation is a critical tool to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The CDC specifically recommended maximizing building ventilation and improving the level of air filtration as much as possible through the use of high-efficiency HEPA filtration units.

“And we have provided more than $3 billion in additional federal dollars in relief funding to the school systems in Maryland specifically for pandemic-related costs, including improvements to HVAC and ventilation, and filtration systems for safer school buildings for our kids. And yet, even with those billions of dollars to address these issues and with the school year already underway, city schools are still unairconditioned, and it’s unclear even which schools or school systems have properly utilized all these billions in funding.

“After months of requesting this information, we’re no longer asking. So today, I’m directing the State Superintendent of Schools and the Interagency Commission on School Construction to immediately provide us a report on ventilation and air filtration systems, district by district and school by school, and we will be holding school systems accountable for these financial resources and the way that they have been utilized to ensure that safe and healthy environments are in our school buildings for all of our kids.”

Spy COVID-19 Aug. 27 Update

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The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• The Maryland State Board of Education approved an in-school mask mandate for all public schools statewide. The emergency regulation must be approved by a state legislative committee; it will be in effect for 180 days if approved.

• The level of community transmission of COVID-19 is high for Maryland and high across the Eastern Shore. Health officials urge everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to wear masks while indoors.

• Talbot County had 9 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 3.67% and its case rate is 19.21 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 492,547, an increase of 1,373 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, seven people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 9,748.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 4.92%,  up 0.03% from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 711, down 9 from yesterday.

Md. School Board OKs Mask Mandate for Public Schools

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Public school students across Maryland must wear masks inside schools.

The Maryland State Board of Education gave overwhelming approval to an emergency regulation requiring masks during a special Thursday afternoon meeting.

The decision comes less than a week before many K-12 students return to school and as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, positivity rates, and transmission rates have been climbing in Maryland, largely due to the delta variant.

Board members said it is important for students to be in school and requiring masks will ensure fewer students miss days due to illness.

Clarence C. Crawford, president of the state school board, said in-person instruction is better for students than the virtual instruction used for much of the past school year.

The emergency regulation now goes to a legislative committee for review and approval. Emergency regulations expire 180 days after being filed with the committee.

State School Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury’s memo to the state school board, including the text of the proposed regulation, is below.

MdSchoolsMaskRegulation

Md. School Board to Vote Today on Requiring Masks; Franchot, State Senators Back Statewide Mandate

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The Maryland State Board of Education will hold a meeting this afternoon to determine if students will be required to wear masks during the 2021-2022 academic year as the delta variant continues to drive the state’s COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates higher.

​​“I believe that having an in-school mask mandate is going to help us to meet our goal of having students stay in classrooms and minimize the disruption that will be caused by quarantines,” said Rachel McCusker, the teacher representative of the Maryland State Board of Education, at the end of a marathon meeting held Tuesday.

The board voted unanimously to meet at 3 p.m. today to discuss the matter further.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudury said that he was looking to see if he had legal backing to deny school systems’ COVID-19 plans if they follow all of the State Department of Education and Department of Health recommendations except for universal masking.

“I have been very clear, all school systems should start the school year with masking,” Choudury said early during the eight-hour meeting Tuesday.

Thus far, each jurisdiction has been tasked with deciding its own school reopening plan, which must be approved by Choudury.

To assuage public concern, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) on Monday tweeted a map created by the Department of Legislative Services detailing masking and vaccine mandates by school district.

According to the map, which was last updated Tuesday, 14 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions plan to require students to wear masks. On Wednesday night, Cecil County Superintendent of Schools Jeff Lawson announced that the school district would require masks for students and staff at the beginning of the school year.

State senators sent a letter Wednesday to the Maryland State Board of Education, imploring board members to issue an emergency regulation requiring a universal masking mandate for students and teachers across the state.

“Continuous in-person instruction this school year is critical, and we must protect students’ ability to learn with other children in school buildings statewide throughout the year,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said in a statement. “We urge the State Board of Education to promulgate a temporary emergency regulation mandating that all children, faculty, and staff wear masks in every Maryland elementary and secondary school and congregate setting with children in any county with a substantial or high rate of COVID-19 transmission, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Should the board decide to issue the masking requirement for students and staff across the state, the emergency regulation would need to be approved by the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR). The committee is led by Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D-Anne Arundel) and Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City).

Because of its emergency status, the masking mandate would only be in effect for 180 days before its expiration.

With Cecil County now requiring masks, only four of Maryland’s 24 school systems have chosen to keep masking optional. Several of those jurisdictions have some of the state’s highest rates of COVID-19 transmission. And three of the four — Dorchester, Somerset, Worcester — are on the Eastern Shore.

Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), a candidate for governor in 2022, issued a statement Thursday morning saying he also favored a mask mandate for public schools.

“Like so many Marylanders, I’m greatly concerned about the surge of COVID-19 cases in our state and across the country,” he said in the statement. “This surge comes as families are preparing to send their kids back to school — with great uncertainty on how the Delta variant will impact the health and welfare of students, teachers and staff. The COVID infection rate among children is the highest it’s ever been.

“That’s why I support a statewide mask mandate for schools, mandatory vaccinations for school employees, and daily testing for school employees who have religious or health exemptions,” Franchot said. “Additionally, I call on the state to work with local governments and school systems to ensure that all eligible children, educators and staff have convenient access to vaccines. School systems must also provide parents with the flexibility to decide the mode of learning that’s best for their children, whether it’s in-person, hybrid or virtual.

“Our collective fight against this pandemic that has killed nearly 10,000 Marylanders and infected more than 489,000 of our friends and neighbors is far from over. When it comes to the health and welfare of our children, we can’t take enough precautions to ensure that they are able to safely learn,” he said. “What’s more, these necessary health precautions aren’t just for our students, but also for our educators and staff. They and their loved ones deserve the certainty of knowing they won’t be jeopardizing their health to do the job they love.”

Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. (D) declared a state of emergency there Tuesday morning in an effort to help the county request and procure aid and resources from the state and federal government.

Per a Tuesday news release from Olszewski’s office, the Baltimore County Council will hold a voting session next week to determine if the county should remain under the state of emergency beyond August.

“While we’ve made undeniable progress in our fight against this deadly virus, the rapid emergence of the Delta variant has made it clear that we need access to every tool in our toolbox to be able to respond to it,” Olszewski said in a statement. “We remain committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep our residents as safe as possible and to ensure that when our children go back to school next week they can remain where they belong: inside the classroom.”

“We want to keep our kids in class and keep our schools open,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman (D) said in support of County Superintendent George Arlotto’s decision to mandate that students and teachers mask up. “That’s the reason that we have the mask requirement.”

Robert Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said discussions regarding vaccine requirements for teachers are underway. Pittman issued a vaccine mandate for county employees earlier this month.

According to Anne Arundel Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the county has 55 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Anne Arundel Medical Center and University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center. He also reported that six people died of COVID-19-related causes in Anne Arundel County in the past week — “the most deaths we’ve had in three months.”

Asked what it would take for him to institute a county-wide mask mandate, Pittman said that he would need to reinstate a local state of emergency, but he doesn’t have enough support from the County Council to do so.

“We don’t have the authorization,” Pittman said. “We had it under the governor’s emergency order and we had it under the county’s emergency declaration … but that we no longer have.”

Pittman said that, to reinstate the county’s state of emergency, five of seven Anne Arundel County councilmembers would have to support it. He said that three county council members “have opposed every mandate that we’ve put into effect.”

“So we don’t believe that we have the votes on the council to do that,” he said.

By Hannah Gaskill and Bruce DePuyt

Most Mid-Shore Students Must Mask Inside Schools

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Most Mid-Shore public school students will be required to wear masks inside when classes begin for the coming school year.

Four of the region’s five school systems have largely adopted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control that recommends universal indoor masking, regardless of vaccination status, for anyone age 2 and older who enters a school.

Dorchester County Public Schools has not issued a mask requirement for students, but is encouraging unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings.

A federal mandate requires masks on all bus transportation nationwide, so all students will be required to wear masks while riding a school bus.

CDC guidance for schools includes:

  • Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority.
  • Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
  • Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
  • In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as screening testing.
  • Screening testing, ventilation, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, staying home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
  • Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
  • Many schools serve children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination at this time. Therefore, this guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (e.g., using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, and other members of their households and support in-person learning.
  • Localities should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on the level of layered prevention strategies (e.g., physical distancing, screening testing).

The CDC’s Covid Data Tracker shows that community transmission levels currently are high in all 5 Mid-Shore counties, for Maryland as a whole, and across the United States.

Talbot County:

The county’s level of community transmission has been high since Aug. 6.

In an Aug. 17 statement, Superintendent Kelly Griffith said school districts had “received updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maryland Department of Health (MDH), and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)” and recommendations from the Talbot County health officer in developing its layered prevention strategies.

Those strategies, effective immediately, are:

  • Requiring universal indoor masking for individuals age 2 years and older, including students/children, teachers, staff and visitors, regardless of vaccination status.
  • Promoting vaccination among teachers, staff and students.
  • Maintaining physical distancing of three feet to the extent possible without excluding students from in-person learning.
  • Offering rapid COVID-19 testing in schools if needed.
  • Maintaining adequate ventilation of all buildings to support air quality
  • Following health department guidance regarding contact tracing, isolation and quarantine for staff or students who are sick, have COVID-19 symptoms, are exposed to someone with COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 according to the Talbot County Health Department Quarantine Policy .

“While this is not the way we hoped to be starting the school year, we will continue to monitor the situation on a weekly basis and will make revisions accordingly,” Griffith wrote. “The good news is that we have 88% of our staff and almost 50% of our 12 -17 year-olds vaccinated so we remain encouraged and hopeful about a healthy and productive school year.”

Kent County:

Kent County Public Schools will require face coverings for all students, staff, and visitors inside school buildings and the central office.

“The masking requirement for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff will preserve our ability to continue in-person instruction and help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our schools,” Superintendent Karen M. Couch wrote in a statement.

Other key mitigation strategies include:

  • Promote frequent hand washing and hygiene.
  • Enhanced cleaning protocols.
  • Social distancing of 3 ft. whenever possible.
  • Self-screening for COVID-19.
  • Contact tracing and quarantining.

Couch said the school system “encourages all eligible persons to get fully vaccinated to protect yourself and those around you.”

Dorchester County:

Dorchester County Public Schools recommends unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks inside school facilities.

In an Aug. 3 statement, Superintendent W. David Bromwell and Dorchester County Health Officer Roger Harrell said:

“Masking continues to be the most talked about subject as we enter the 2021-2022 school year. Dorchester County has become a High-Rate transmission county in Maryland, almost overnight.

“DCPS will do everything possible to keep our students and staff safe while attending school. It is possible that an individual DCPS school will be required to ‘Mask Up’ if infection rates and COVID transmissions are increasing within a building.”

The school system and the health department had reviewed the latest guidance from the CDC and the federal education department, and the county’s COVID-19 statistics, according to the statement. As a result, Dorchester schools will encourage the following:

  • Follow Federal mandate of masking on all bus transportation throughout the county
  • Unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks in all facilities
  • Those who are eligible to receive a vaccination
  • Ask staff and families to pre-screen for symptoms of illness daily
  • Hand washing throughout the day, especially before and after meals
  • Individual materials of instruction (no sharing of supplies)
  • When possible, always use social distancing of a minimum of 3 feet within DCPS buildings
  • Implement a high level of cleaning, especially high touch areas in schools and busses

County schools also will continue to provide the following:

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including hand sanitizer to students and staff
  • Ongoing professional development to staff, families, and students involving COVID 19 and its variants
  • MERV rated filters throughout DCPS HVAC systems
  • COVID screening for students and staff whenever possible
  • Multiple vaccination opportunities for staff and eligible students leading up to the 2021-2022 school year

Caroline County:

“Masks are now required for all individuals inside Caroline County Public Schools buildings, regardless of vaccination status, when students are present,” Caroline County Public Schools said in an Aug. 17 post on its website.

“We are laser focused on our primary goal of keeping the school doors open five full days a week for in-person learning for all students,” Interim Superintendent Derek Simmons told the school board in an Aug. 17 special meeting.

“Given the current circumstances, we have a much better chance of meeting that goal if everyone is wearing a mask while indoors.”

According to the post, the decision was based on several important factors:

  • Children 11 and younger are not yet eligible for the vaccine, and significant numbers of students 12 and older remain unvaccinated.
  • The Delta variant spreads more easily than previous variants, and can be spread by vaccinated individuals. Throughout the summer, the number of young people contracting the virus has increased.
  • According to CDC’s data tracker, Caroline County has been in the substantial or high range for community transmission since early August.
  • Based on CDC contact tracing guidance, if an unmasked student tests positive, nearby students must quarantine, even if they were wearing masks. However, if both the positive case and the contacts are masked, the contacts may stay in school.
  • The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Caroline County Health Department all recommend a mask requirement for student and staff safety, and as a way to enable schools to remain open.
  • The Draft Reopening Plan Survey comments indicated that while some respondents wanted masks to remain a choice, a majority felt strongly that masks should be required.

Board President Jim Newcomb urged older students, “If you are comfortable with being vaccinated, be a leader in your school and get the vaccine. This is the only way under these conditions to get your life and your friends’ lives as close to normal as possible.”

Queen Anne’s County:

“Approved face coverings must be worn in all QACPS buildings,” the school system said in an Aug. 23 post on its website.

In a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), the school system said not requiring masks would result in a larger number of students being quarantined and absent from school if an unmasked student tests positive for COVID-19.

“If a student were to choose not to wear a face covering and tests positive for COVID-19, the unvaccinated students around that child (masked or unmasked) are then required to be quarantined.

“However, if all students have face coverings and at least socially distant in the classroom, only the child testing positive would miss school days.

“There may be other settings such as the bus or the cafeteria where social distancing cannot be maintained.

“Our best chance at keeping classrooms and schools safe and open is to require everyone to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing whenever possible.”

Quarantining

Diagrams from Caroline and Queen Anne’s county schools highlight the effectiveness of masks in limiting the number of students who must quarantine if a student tests positive for COVID-19.

With 3-foot spacing and all students wearing masks, only the student testing positive for COVID-19 would have to quarantine in three classroom seating diagrams, according to Caroline schools.

Without masks, 6 to 8 other students sitting near the student who tested positive also would have to quarantine and miss school. Those students would be considered close contacts at high risk of getting COVID-19.

A diagram from Queen Anne’s schools notes the differences between old and current quarantine guidelines.

The previous guidelines would have required mass student quarantine if one student tested positive.

Under the current guidelines, with everyone masked and remaining three feet apart, the student who tested positive would have to quarantine. Those within close proximity would only have to quarantine if they had symptoms.

Spy COVID-19 Aug. 19 Update

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The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• The level of community transmission of COVID-19 is high for Maryland and high across most of the Mid-Shore. Health officials urge everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to wear masks while indoors.

• Maryland’s average positivity rate topped 5% for the first time since April 22.

• Talbot County’s community transmission level is high, according to the county health department.

• Talbot County had 6 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.22% and its case rate is 26.13 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 483,641, an increase of 1,060 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, nine people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 9,695.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 643, up 13 from yesterday.

MD Senators Call for Stricter Statewide COVID-19 Mandates, Require Vaccines in Schools

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In spite of cries for stricter statewide COVID-19 protocols from lawmakers, Maryland Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader remained steadfast in the idea that local government agencies should remain in control of mask and vaccine mandates.

“We really believe that local authority knows best,” Schrader said at the Senate Vaccine Oversight Workgroup meeting Tuesday afternoon.

As COVID-19 delta variant infections continue to crop up, members of the workgroup urged Schrader to impose tougher standards, including re-issuing a statewide mask mandate and requiring students aged 12 through 17 to be vaccinated before returning to school in the fall.

Schrader said that the delta variant is now the “predominant variant in the state” and “[at a] minimum, two to four times more contagious than the alpha variant and the original COVID virus.”

More than 70% of all eligible Maryland residents are fully vaccinated, including more than half of Marylanders aged 12 through 17.

The health secretary said that COVID-19 shots may be approved for children under 12 later this year.

According to Schrader, Maryland has very strong laws that grant authority to local school boards and superintendents to make decisions for their respective systems.

He also said that the Maryland Department of Health does not have the authority to require students to be vaccinated statewide.

But some lawmakers disagree with the Department of Health’s interpretation of the law.

Citing Maryland’s education code, Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard) said that the agency has the ability to issue regulations that require students to be inoculated to attend school.

“It seems to fairly clearly articulate that you have the authority to do this and, given that we are only a few weeks away, if not maybe just a week or two, from students … going into school — many of whom are not vaccinated — it seems like there’s no strategy here to get those students vaccinated,” Lam said.

Schrader said that he would have to go back and check with the department’s lawyers to verify Lam’s “assertion.”

“Our assessment is different,” Schrader said.

According to a letter of advice from the attorney general’s office to Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s), state health officials do have the authority to create statewide vaccine policies.

“…it is my view that [the Maryland State Department of Education] has given [local education agencies] flexibility regarding in-person instruction operations,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Sandra Benson Brantley. “Nevertheless, if the Secretary of Health or local health officer mandated vaccinations, the [local education agency] would be required to follow such directives.”

‘Very concerned about the direction we’re moving’

Also on Tuesday, Jon Baron, a nonprofit executive and gubernatorial candidate, called on Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) and local officials to institute tougher vaccine and testing requirements.

At a press conference in Baltimore, Baron said all state employees and contractors, in addition to educators and school staff statewide, should be required to show proof for vaccination or receive weekly testing. Baron also said all workers in “indoor healthcare settings” should be required to show proof of vaccination.

He also wants to see more local governments in Maryland implement vaccination and testing requirements, similar to Montgomery County’s plan.

“I’m proud of the fact that Maryland is the 7th most vaccinated state in the nation,” Baron said. “But our contest is not with other states; it’s with the virus. Currently 40% of all Marylanders are unvaccinated, and until those numbers increase, we remain highly vulnerable to the delta variant.”

Schrader said that Hogan will be making an announcement regarding vaccine requirements at a news conference Wednesday.

Lawmakers at Tuesday’s meeting also expressed a desire to see the mask mandate be reinstated.

“I think we’re going to end up getting there anyway, and so it’s a matter of now or later and the sooner we do it the faster we’re through it,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said.

Lam, a doctor, grilled Schrader, asking what it would take for the Department of Health to push for another mask mandate — especially considering the recent discovery that vaccinated people who contract the delta variant are contagious.

“We believe that the way out of this is through vaccinations, and we are continuing to press on that as our primary tool to move through this,” Schrader responded.

Lam said that he’s “very concerned about the direction the state’s moving.”

“The environment has certainly changed, in the state doesn’t seem to be doing all that much differently,” he said. “We seemed to be doing good enough until recently [and] now are, in fact, removing tools in the public health toolkit.”

“So I am very concerned about the direction we’re moving,” Lam said.

By Hannah Gaskill and Bennett Leckrone

Spy COVID-19 Aug. 17 Update

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The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• The level of community transmission of COVID-19 is high across most of the Mid-Shore and substantial for Maryland as a whole. Health officials urge everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to wear masks while indoors.

• Talbot County’s community transmission level is HIGH, according to the county health department.

• Talbot County had 7 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.41% and its case rate is 24.59 cases per 100,000 population.

• Maryland’s average positivity rate has been on an upward trend since July 13 and has been above 4% for 10 days.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 481,569, an increase of 851 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, three people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 9,678.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 611, up 35 from yesterday. That number was last above 600 on May 17 and had been on a downward trend from April 20 through July 2, when only 97 patients were hospitalized. The current upward trend began July 3.