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Hogan Easing More Restrictions on Businesses and Public Gatherings

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced Wednesday that he is easing the state into the “completion” of his administration’s “stage one recovery plan” from the COVID-19 outbreak, allowing restaurants to serve customers outdoors and expanding recreational activities in the state.

At a late afternoon State House news conference, Hogan said he was comfortable taking additional steps to reopen the state’s economy and lift certain restrictions on Marylanders’ movements and activities because key metrics — including the state’s COVID-19 testing capacity, hospitalization rates and number of patients in intensive-care units — are “trending in the right direction.”

Hogan emphasized that the ultimate call for restricting activities in the state rests with local leaders. He pointed out that officials in 23 of the state’s 24 jurisdictions — with the exception of Montgomery County — have taken steps to reopen their economies and ease travel restrictions, or have announced their intention to do so.

Hogan’s announcement comes as the death toll from the coronavirus topped 2,200 in Maryland Wednesday. But the governor said the state has just hit its goal of conducting 10,000 COVID-19 tests a day, and that 334,000 tests have been taken overall. He said the rate of tests that come back positive, along with the number of COVID patients in hospitals and ICU units, have dropped dramatically over the past month.

Hogan said that even in the state’s coronavirus hot spots — Prince George’s and Montgomery counties — the percentage of positive tests is declining significantly.

“I understand — some people believe we’re moving too quickly, other people believe we’re moving too slowly,” Hogan said. “I understand there’s going to be criticism on both sides and we’re not going to make everybody happy.”

Hogan said polls have suggested that about 80% of Marylanders believe restrictions are being lifted at about the right pace.

Two weeks ago, Hogan announced the first phase of his stage one plan to ease restrictions in the state. He reopened state parks, playgrounds and beaches, and said certain retail outlets could open if they employed self-distancing practices and emphasized curbside pickups.

Under the new order, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, restaurants — many of which have relied on takeout and delivery orders, if they haven’t shuttered altogether — can begin serving patrons on decks, patios and other outdoor settings. Hogan said he was also encouraging local governments to “find innovative ways” to enable restaurants to expand their outdoor seating capacity, by closing certain streets to vehicular traffic.

Under Hogan’s guidance, no more than six people can sit together at an outdoor table, and patrons must be spaced at least six feet apart. Restaurants — along with VFW halls and social clubs, which are also covered by the order — must adhere to strict sanitation and safety practices as laid out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hogan said all restaurant workers must be screened daily for fever.

Business owners and the groups that represent them were cautiously optimistic about Hogan’s announcement, but also wondered how quickly local governments would adopt Hogan’s guidance.

“Restaurants operate on the thinnest of margins under normal circumstances, so giving us more opportunities to get our customers back is very much appreciated,” said Andrew Fox, owner of two Annapolis restaurants, Fox’s Den and Vida Taco Bar.

Mike O’Halloran, Maryland director of the National Federation of Independent Business, called Hogan’s announcement “welcome news.”

“But serious concerns remain with how this will play out in each jurisdiction and if restaurateurs will be able to staff up appropriately,” he said.

In a Facebook post, state Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) said he was “exceedingly pleased” with Hogan’s announcement.

“This action is essential to the survival of Maryland’s hospitality industry, which is responsible for nearly half a million jobs in our state,” said Franchot, whose office has run one of its patented social media campaigns to urge Hogan to allow restaurants to serve customers outdoors.

Also beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, outdoor swimming pools will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity, Hogan said. Children’s day camps can reopen for outdoor activities only, with a limited number of participants. Youth sports leagues can resume “low contact” outdoor practices. All children and staffers must be checked regularly for COVID-like symptoms.

Hogan said that if COVID-19 public health trends continue, and if his latest moves to reopen the state prove successful, he’ll consider activating Phase Two of his reopening plan next week, which would enable businesses deemed nonessential to reopen.

Still no movement in Montgomery County

Even as Prince George’s County, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia take tentative steps on their first phases of reopening, Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) told a media briefing Wednesday, about five hours before Hogan spoke, that the first steps in his jurisdiction’s reopening probably won’t come until early next week.

“I feel pretty good about the numbers being where they are,” Elrich said — but he added that he was worried about a possible spike in cases following a big turnout on the beach and boardwalk at Ocean City during the Memorial Day weekend.

Hogan was asked several times at his news conference about the resistance of certain large counties to follow his guidelines on reopening, and replied, “I don’t want to criticize the local leaders.” But he did suggest at one point: “The county leaders aren’t paying attention to the state metrics. They seem to be making up their own plans.”

In a statement, Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Council 3, a public employee union, criticized Hogan’s move.

“With the Governor’s latest public announcement, it would seem the Governor has turned to taking cues from those groups demanding to ‘open Maryland’ versus public health experts,” Moran said.

He expressed concern that Hogan was jeopardizing the health of government workers — and in turn, their ability to operate and maintain state facilities.

“The Hogan administration has still failed to protect state employees, which in turn is a failure to protect the public,” Moran said.

By Josh Kurtz

One by One, County Leaders Put Brakes on Hogan’s Reopening

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Three weeks ago, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) said a regional reopening of the state’s economy risked a spike in Maryland’s COVID-19 caseload.

“You could possibly do things in different regions or different parts of the state,” he told reporters at an April 20 news conference. “But what we don’t want is to have one place open, everybody rushes over there and then infects that county.”

With several of Maryland’s largest counties and the City of Baltimore declining to embrace the governor’s move to Stage 1 of the “Roadmap to Recovery” Friday, the state is — for all intents and purposes — moving into the sort of regional reopening that Hogan warned against.

A public health expert said on Thursday that the state will discover in roughly two weeks (COVID-19’s incubation period) whether the move was wise.

Pushback from local leaders on Hogan’s decision to replace Maryland’s “stay-at-home” order with a “safer-at-home” guideline began within hours of his announcement on Wednesday — and it accelerated on Thursday, as local leaders from Maryland’s largest counties and Baltimore City declared, one after another, that they will keep in place restrictions on commerce and social interaction.

Hogan’s order, which takes effect Friday evening, effectively shifts responsibility for managing the crisis to local leaders, many of whom lack the staff resources and access to experts that the governor enjoys, political leaders and health experts said.

There were also questions about whether Maryland has met the health criteria Hogan has for weeks said were essential to loosening restrictions.

“It’s … put the ‘Big 7’ or the ‘Big 8’ in a tough spot, to have to make their own decisions,” said a Democratic official, referring to the large county executives and the mayor of Baltimore.

“The local governments, the county executives have the least amount of staff to be able to figure out the health implications and everything else,” said the official, who would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. “Honestly, a countywide basis is kind of silly.”

Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) was one of several local leaders to keep existing restrictions on social interaction and business activity in place.

Montgomery’s coronavirus case load — the second highest in the state — and other key metrics “have not changed enough” to reopen on Hogan’s timeline, he told reporters outside the county administration building in Rockville Thursday.

Elrich also cast doubt on the wisdom of Hogan’s decision.

“I think he went farther than he probably should have right now,” he said. “I think he should have waited until the cases were at least on a downturn for some period of time, so that you knew that you had more control over the virus than we have right now.”

Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) is also keeping current restrictions.

She said Prince George’s, which has the highest caseload in Maryland, has been hampered by a lack of support from the state.

“We need the state to do its part,” she told reporters. “At this point, we do not have it. We do not have gowns that we have needed. We do not have enough PPE. We don’t have enough tests to expand the capacity for what we need. We don’t have enough contact tracers. And these are metrics that were set out by the governor.”

Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young (D) announced an extension of Baltimore City’s “stay-at-home” order on Thursday, saying it would be “irresponsible” to allow more commerce and interaction until the crisis subsides and testing increases.

“As I have said from the beginning of this state of emergency, we are going to follow the data and listen to what our public health experts are telling us – and right now, they are saying it is still too soon to reopen,” Young said in statement.

Currently the city is able to test 570 residents per day, he said. Under World Health Organization guidelines, the city should test approximately 2,700 residents.

“Without more testing capacity, it would be irresponsible to begin the reopening process,” the mayor said.

Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. (D) declared on Thursday that most restrictions will remain in effect.

“After examining the available data and consulting with our public health team, it’s clear that we are not yet in a position to safely move toward a significant reopening,” he said.

Gatherings of 10 people or more are prohibited, malls must remain closed, and churches and beauty salons remain off-limits. Retail stores can utilize curbside pickup, he said, and the “vast majority” of manufacturing firms can reopen as long as they follow guidelines to protect workers.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman (D) and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball (D) made announcements in line with Olszewski’s.

Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner (D) opted for “a phase-in of the phase-in.”

All retailers in Frederick will be allowed to use curbside pickup, manufacturing plants can open, and small retail shops can open at 50% capacity as long as an employee is stationed at the door and customers wear masks.

In addition, pet adoption, car washes and pet grooming can resume.

She noted that many Frederick residents work outside the county and expressed a concern about increased movement.

In Ocean City, Maryland’s top tourist town, Mayor Richard W. Meehan took a different approach, lifting the town’s restriction on hotel bookings and short-term rentals, effective immediately.

“We encourage residents and visitors to follow health and safety guidelines, including physical distancing and gathering limits,” he said.

“Personal responsibility and individual comfort levels are incredibly important to exercise during each phase of recovery.”

Moving the goalposts?

For weeks leading up to Wednesday’s announcement, Hogan described the foundation that Maryland would need to see before it could safely start to reopen, and on Thursday there are questions about whether the state had hit those targets.

As recently as late April, Hogan said the state needed to see a two-week decline in hospitalizations and ICU use before Phase 1 could be considered.

“The federal guidelines issued by the president last week call for states to meet specific gating metrics before considering lifting restrictions. That includes a 14-day downward trend in key numbers,” Hogan told reporters on April 24.

“We’ve had a couple of days of things that look better, but a couple of days, three days does not make a trend. Right? We need like 14 days,” he added.

At the same press event, Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a top Hogan adviser, offered reinforcement.

“At this point, for the state to move forward in easing social distancing in a lower risk way, there needs to be a period of declining hospitalization and ICU stays and deaths from COVID in Maryland,” he said.

But the latest numbers — including an analysis shared with Maryland Matters — show little evidence of a sustained decline.

The data do show a leveling off. And in recent days, Hogan has spoken less of a need for a steady “decline” and more of a “plateauing.”

New hospitalizations averaged 158 for the week ending May 7, higher than the week before, when there were, on average, 155 per day. For the most recent seven-day period, the state averaged 127 new hospitalizations per day.
ICU utilization has remained in a narrow band over the last two weeks — between 563 and 611 beds. On the day Hogan announced the start of reopening, there were 569 ICU beds in use.
As Hogan spoke Wednesday, Maryland was seeing a spike in new cases, 1,091, up from 751 and 688 the two days prior.
Also on Wednesday, the state saw a spike in its “positivity rate,” 22.4%, up from 16.2%, 14.6% and 18.4% the three days prior.
“Because we’ve plateaued doesn’t mean we’ve started on a downward curve,” said Elrich.

A noted public health expert who declined to be quoted by name said “there has been a moving of goal posts.”

Hogan “set some very high standards originally — declining hospitalizations, declining number of cases, declining infections,” the expert said. “I don’t think we’ve met all that. It’s kind of been shaded. ‘It’s generally gone down.’”

In a letter to Hogan Thursday, the presiding officers of the General Assembly, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), asked Hogan to provide more data to justify his decision for partially reopening the state.

“Many of the actions you have taken throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency undoubtedly have saved the lives of countless Marylanders, and we appreciate your efforts,” the lawmakers wrote. “While your early actions should be applauded, we have concerns about your plan to reopen Maryland without first understanding and having access to the data guiding those decision points.”

Ferguson and Jones went on to ask 15 specific questions of the governing, requesting a response by May 20.

Hogan has been under pressure for weeks from business groups, Republicans in the General Assembly and U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R) to ease back on social and business restrictions. The group Reopen Maryland formed several weeks ago, held one protest in Annapolis and has another planned for Friday.

“The problem is, all these indicators are lagging indicators,” said the public health official. “There’s a two- to three-week lag between when you open things up and when you’re going to see cases go back up.”

‘Open’ counties may be a temptation

Elrich said counties that follow the governor’s guidance can expect to see lots of visitors from neighboring jurisdictions that keep current restrictions in place.

“I do worry about things opening up in other jurisdictions and people going there because they can do things,” he said. “If you think about some of the rates in the D.C. metropolitan area, I frankly don’t think you want residents from here going to places where there aren’t restrictions.”

Elrich said Maryland’s big-county executives intend to act in unison. But a municipal official wondered how long that unity can withstand pressure from business owners and groups like Reopen Maryland.

“It’s a massive shift in responsibility to the locals,” said the official. That includes the responsibility not only for decision-making but communicating effectively with the public without the media platform the governor can command, the person said.

Supplies lacking in Prince George’s

Michael Ricci, a spokesman for the governor, told Maryland Matters the state has never received a request for PPE from Prince George’s County.

But Alsobrooks’ aides quickly produced an April 26 letter from the executive to Steve Schuh, Hogan’s liaison with local governments during the COVID-19 crisis, making the case for additional hospital capacity, testing, contact tracing and PPE.

“I appreciate the fact that the State has many requests for support, but since we continue to lead the State in the number of positive cases and hospitalizations, we ask that our requests be prioritized,” Alsobrooks wrote to Schuh, a former Anne Arundel County executive.

“These requests are critical to stopping the spread of the virus in our County, flattening the curve in our State and successfully navigating through the Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery plan proposed by the Governor.”

Speaking Thursday at Alsobrooks’ news conference in Hyattsville, U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D) said Maryland has “fallen behind” in testing and he called on Hogan to “quickly” deploy needed test kits to Prince George’s County.

“This is a commitment the governor has made repeatedly and now he needs to deliver,” Brown said.

“We rank 27th in the country for per capita testing, and the positive daily infection rate is still in the double digits,” he added. On Wednesday, “Maryland was second highest in the nation. Scientists say this simply means we are not testing enough.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Education Reform Plan Among Three Dozen Bills Vetoed by Hogan

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With a trio of unusual veto letters, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) vetoed nearly three dozen bills passed by the 2020 General Assembly, including a proposed multibillion-dollar education reform plan, as well as the revenue bills to fund it.

Citing economic challenges brought on by COVID-19, Hogan vetoed Democrats’ top priority: House Bill 1300, the 235-page Blueprint for Maryland’s Future bill, which lays out a broad education reform plan that would have increased state and local annual education spending by almost $3.4 billion in 10 years.

Policy changes at the heart of the years-long reform effort are meant to address economic and racial disparities in education by expanding pre-kindergarten programs and career education for high schoolers, bolstering pay and career opportunities for teachers, and increasing state funding for schools with high concentrations of poverty.

The entire House Republican caucus opposed the bills during the legislative session, but last-minute financial protections in the Blueprint bill attracted support from a half-dozen Republicans in the Senate.

“The economic fallout from this pandemic simply makes it impossible to fund any new programs, impose any new tax hikes, nor adopt any legislation having any significant fiscal impact, regardless of the merits of the legislation,” Hogan wrote in a letter vetoing the Blueprint bill, as well as 21 others that would have required increased spending.

That includes House Bill 1260, which would have provided an extra $577.7 million over the next decade for the state’s four historically black colleges and universities, with the aim of settling a years-long lawsuit against the state for disparity in funding and resources.

Hogan announced final action Thursday on the more than 680 bills passed by the General Assembly during the truncated 2020 session. The governor can sign bills, veto them or let them take effect without his signature.

His actions come during an uncertain time for government finances ― from the federal level down to cities and towns.

Maryland’s Bureau of Revenue Estimates has suggested that the state may lose as much as $2.8 billion in revenues because of the COVID-19 pandemic before the end of this fiscal year, with more losses to come next year. Last month, Hogan froze discretionary spending in state agency budgets, instituted a widespread hiring freeze and warned agencies to begin looking for ways to trim budgets. And the state’s fiscal experts have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic response could completely drain Maryland’s $1.2 billion rainy day fund.

Hogan grouped 10 other vetoed bills into two groups: those that raised taxes and others that “failed to meaningfully address violent crime,” an issue over which he regularly clashed with legislators during the 2020 session.

He vetoed five other bills on disparate topics, including a ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos, a bill that would have expanded MARC train service into Virginia and Delaware, and a measure to limit the authority of the Board of Public Works in purchasing property.

On the tax front, Hogan vetoed the two primary measures pressed by Democrats to fund the Blueprint education reforms.

House Bill 732 would have levied an increased tax rate on tobacco and vaping products, and would also create a first-of-its-kind tax on digital advertising.

The bill would have increased the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $2 to $3.75 and apply a new tax to vaping products and e-cigarettes to generate about $90 million in new state tax revenue next year.

Other provisions of the bill would have imposed a gross receipts tax on ads by digital platforms with more than $100 million in annual, global advertising revenue. The tax could generate up to $250 million a year.

House Bill 932, the 21st Century Economy Fairness Act, would have applied the state’s 6% sales tax to downloads of products like books, music and streaming services. The bill could have generated more than $80 million next year.

The first year of revenue from the new tax would have been dedicated to costs associated with the state’s COVID-19 response, while future years would be dedicated to education reforms.

“These misguided bills would raise taxes and fees on Marylanders at a time when many are already out of work and financially struggling,” Hogan wrote. “With our state in the midst of a global pandemic and economic crash, and just beginning on our road to recovery, it would be unconscionable to raise taxes and fees now.”

Gun bill vetoed

On crime bills, Hogan vetoed Senate Bill 907, a Democratic priority that would establish a statewide Law Enforcement Coordinating Council to prevent and reduce crime by focusing on interagency communication and intelligence-sharing, and Senate Bill 929, The PROTECT Act, which would have required the state to identify 10 high-crime micro-zones and target additional crime-fighting resources in those areas.

The governor also vetoed House Bill 4, which would have required background checks for people acquiring rifles or shotguns from private sales or transfers.

The bill has been a Democratic priority for the last two legislative sessions. The bill’s sponsor, Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard), tweeted that she was “beyond disappointed” with the veto of the bill.

Other lawmakers took exception to Hogan’s veto letter, in which he highlighted the failure of the House of Delegates to pass his own crime bill proposals.

“I expressed my strong willingness to consider other proposals, including some of those passed by the legislature, if they were included as part of a comprehensive crime package which included my proposals,” Hogan wrote.

While the Senate incorporated portions of Hogan priorities into a package in that chamber, the House did not take up the package “and thus failed to meaningfully address violent crime,” Hogan wrote.

“Pouting doesn’t solve gun violence,” Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore City) tweeted in response to the veto letter. “Tragic & frustrating.”

House Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) said his party would consider overriding a number of the vetoes issued Thursday, and he questioned the rationale for some of the governor’s actions.

“The governor is trying to sell this as fiscal responsibility, but he vetoed a bill closing the last loophole in our background check system for guns, he vetoed a bill banning a toxic pesticide. This is right-wing red meat,” Luedtke said. “…The governor had a chance to rise above politics a little bit with the leadership he’s shown on coronavirus and these vetoes demonstrate he hasn’t done it.”

How to move forward

Legislative leaders ― who recently announced they wouldn’t meet in special session this month, as they’d originally hoped after the regular legislative session was cut short ―reacted with disappointment immediately after the final actions were announced.

“Throughout this Session, the General Assembly took steps to ensure we left the state with a historically high fund balance and rainy day fund, together with a variety of tools to deal with this crisis,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said in a statement. “At the same time, we passed legislation that looked to the future of the state, and made certain to pass policies which will help our state emerge strongly from this crisis. With today’s actions, instead of setting us on a path to a secure recovery, the Governor is stopping all progress where it stands.”

He and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said they will consult about how to move forward.

“While we are in the midst of a public health and economic crisis of an extraordinary magnitude, stopping progress on education and school construction puts us even further behind. We know that there are students across this State that are losing millions of hours of learning,” Jones said in a statement. “The result of this short-sighted action is Maryland will continue to graduate students that are not ready for the real world.”

Legislative leaders did not discuss the possibility of summer or fall special session to address vetoes on Thursday.

If the legislature does not override gubernatorial vetoes on spending bills before July 1, Hogan does not have to consider funding for those bills in his proposed 2022 budget.

If lawmakers ultimately decide to forgo a special session, they could override the governor’s vetoes in January, when their regular session convenes and the state’s fiscal outlook may have improved.

The HBCU funding bill would have required a settlement before December. If lawmakers don’t meet in special session before then, a 13-year lawsuit against the state could be revived and a settlement could be dictated by the courts.

Hogan allowed hundreds of other House and Senate bills to become law without his signature.

That includes House Bill 1, the Built to Learn Act, which authorizes the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue up to $2.2 billion in bonds to pay for school construction projects around the state. However, the school construction bill, which was similar to a separate proposal from Hogan, was contingent on enactment of the Blueprint reform bill that was vetoed.

Hogan did not sign a single bill.

By Danielle E. Gaines

Schools to Stay Closed, More Outdoor Activities Allowed

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As cases of COVID-19 in Maryland hospitals and ICU units begin to plateau, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr .(R) announced moves Wednesday that foreshadow a slow re-establishment of the norm for state residents.

Effective 7 a.m. Thursday, Marylanders can resume a broad range of outdoor activities, including golf, tennis, camping, boating and fishing. Hogan also announced the reopening of state parks, playgrounds and beaches.

Additionally, the Maryland Department of Health is giving guidance for medical professionals, including dentists, to resume elective and non-COVID-19-related procedures.

“Marylanders have made incredible sacrifices in recent weeks and because of that, thousands of lives have been saved and the numbers of infections are so much better than they would have been,” the governor said at a State House news conference Wednesday afternoon. “And while we still do need several more days of good metrics, our Coronavirus Recovery Team … has agreed that there are some additional things that we can do safely right now.”

Hogan said that in the past week, the state saw a five-day streak of downward hospitalization trends, with a slight bump Monday, and an encouraging leveling-off of patients receiving care in state ICUs.

“If these trends continue into next week, we will be ready to lift the stay-at-home order and to begin stage one of our recovery plan,” he said.

Dr. David Marcozzi, the COVID-19 incident commander for the University of Maryland Medical System, said it is imperative for Marylanders to use caution and “common sense” when participating in these activities.

“The virus is still with us,” he explained, adding that people need to maintain social distance while enjoying activities outside, practice appropriate hygiene, only gather in small groups and, if possible, wear masks.

“To continue to flatten the curve, we as Marylanders need to be consistently making the right choices for ourselves, for our friends, and our family,” Marcozzi said.

Hogan’s decision to allow people to walk on state-owned beaches comes two days after the mayor of Ocean City decided independently to open beaches there this Saturday.

The state’s policy applies to beaches operated by the Department of Natural Resources — and it’s narrower than the one adopted by Ocean City.

Under Hogan’s guidance, beaches will open Thursday for “walking, jogging, running, swimming and fishing.” The ban on groups of 10 or more remains in effect. Chairs, blankets and picnics will be prohibited.

Asked if visitors to Ocean City can sunbathe and swim, Mayor Richard W. Meehan said in a text message, “As long as people are not violating the Governor’s Stay at Home Order, they are allowed to go on the beach. We do not encourage swimming before the life guards are on duty Memorial Day Weekend.”

While a few boardwalk establishments may begin serving takeout food, most will remain shuttered until at least Memorial Day weekend. Hotels and short-term rental apartments are also off-limits until then.

“Social distancing is required,” Meehan added.

Hogan and Meehan talked at length by phone before the town decided to open its beach. During the conversation, the mayor said the governor’s decision to open beaches in coordination with Virginia and Delaware “doesn’t really work for us.”

Although he didn’t criticize Ocean City’s decision, Hogan appeared to suggest that it’s too early for beach activity to ramp up too quickly.

“We’re encouraging people to walk on the beach and walk on the boardwalks,” he said. “But crowds of people all congregating together and going about their normal way that they would go, I think we’re not quite ready for that.”

Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) said she is “very excited” about the lifting of restrictions on outdoor activity.

“I’ve had numerous constituents across my district — whether it’s boaters or golfers or tennis players or people who just love to walk in our parks — ask when can we expect to be outside again,” she said. “So today was welcome news.”

School’s out

While the state’s parks and beaches are reopening, Maryland public schools will remain shut.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon announced that she is canceling in-person learning for the remainder of the school year.

“After extensive discussions with the Maryland State Board of Education, the Maryland Health Department and additional health experts advising the governor, I am convinced this is the appropriate decision in order to continue to protect the health and safety of our students, educators, staff, and all members of school communities throughout Maryland,” she said.

As it stands, Maryland public school students have not attended any lessons taught in classrooms since March 13. Salmon said that students are to continue participating in distance learning through the balance of the year.

While schools remain closed, the Department of Education continues to consider plans for their slow reopening. Salmon announced that in a combined effort between stakeholders and local superintendents, the department has drafted the Maryland Together Recovery Plan for Education, a “comprehensive plan for long-term recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.”

Salmon said that while school systems do not have to follow this plan, the calendar for reopening schools may “dovetail” with Hogan’s recovery plan.

In mid-April, Hogan rolled out the “Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery” — a three-phase plan to reopen the state.

In order for state officials to safely implement the beginnings of the reentry plan, Maryland must meet four “building blocks, including increased testing, greater hospital surge capacity, expanded supply of personal protective equipment, and a “robust contact tracing operation.”

Should it be enacted, the first phase of the state’s recovery plan would allow for the reopening of some businesses and the activation of “low-risk” religious and community events.

Steps in the right direction

Late last month, Hogan announced that he had acquired over 500,000 tests from South Korea.

When combined with an expansion of lab capacity and a shipment of swabs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the governor said Wednesday that the state has been able to augment its testing ability, including at chicken processing plants on the Eastern Shore and state nursing homes, both of which the governor said are to be universally tested.

“We expanded testing on the Eastern Shore in response to outbreaks at poultry processing plants, testing 2,300 people at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury just last weekend,” Hogan said. “In addition, we will be conducting universal testing shift by shift at both of Maryland’s processing plants to ensure that every single poultry worker is tested and we are placing a surge tent at Easton Memorial Hospital to prepare for a spike in patients from that outbreak.

“The CDC is on the ground in Salisbury to assist with contact tracing and we continue to coordinate with our partners in Delaware and Virginia in an effort to protect the Delmarva region’s poultry industry and the national food supply chain,” the governor said.

Maryland lawmakers were told on Wednesday that the state’s nursing homes aren’t able to test residents and staff as often as they would like.

During a meeting of the General Assembly’s Joint COVID-19 Response Legislative Workgroup, the head of the association that represents Maryland nursing homes called testing “a major, major problem.”

“There’s a shortage of testing,” said Joseph DeMattos Jr., the president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. “It’s one thing for the state to order testing. But to order testing in an environment where testing is not available is a problem.”

DeMattos said Maryland nursing homes frequently receive only a fraction of the tests they request from their local health departments.

Part of the problem, he said, is that counties have adopted their own standards for deciding who is eligible for the tests.

DeMattos urged the legislature to pressure Hogan to adopt a statewide standard, and to stagger testing of nursing home staff, so facilities aren’t swamped with a sudden wave of positive results.

“Everybody can say that testing is mandatory and everybody needs to be testing,” he said. “The reality on the ground is there are not these tests deployed at this point.”

Hogan said Wednesday afternoon that universal testing in elder care facilities will “not be done overnight,” nor is the state “just handing out tests.” Rather, he explained that the state will begin testing “the hottest ones with the biggest problems and working our way down the list.”

Regarding contact tracing, the governor announced Maryland’s recent contract with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, which Hogan said is poised to “quadruple” the state’s investigating ability.

Maryland is in the process of hiring workers for its contact tracing program. The governor revealed that officials received more than 900 applications for these positions from across the state.

While the state beefs-up its contact tracing capabilities, it has also exponentially increased its ability to treat those who fall victim to COVID-19.

Hogan said that the state’s number of viable hospital beds for COVID-19 patients has increased by over 8,000 units and that the supply of personal protective equipment has grown by 4.5 million KN95 masks, 600,000 N95 masks, 150,000 medical gowns, over one million face shields and 3.5 million gloves.

He said that Maryland has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building up these stockpiles — something that he said the state has never had to do in such a short time before.

“We don’t do this on a normal basis,” said the governor. “But if we didn’t find them, people were going to die.”

Hogan also acknowledged that in its pursuit of this necessary equipment, the state may have fallen victim to fraud.

Last week, he directed the Maryland Department of General Services to cancel an emergency order of personal protective equipment, including masks and ventilators, from Blue Flame Medical, ordering Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) to launch an investigation.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice has started its own investigation of Blue Flame Medical, noting that other states have had similar interactions with the company, including California.

“We were lucky to catch this one situation. Hopefully, there aren’t others,” Hogan said.

By Hannah Gaskill and Bruce DePuyt

Md. Crabbing Industry Fears Long-Term Effects of 2020 Visa Shortages

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Maryland’s famous crab industry is facing an uphill battle. With another year of visa caps, there’s a severe shortage of migrant workers to work as crab pickers ― and few Americans willing to do the job. This year, Maryland crabbers fear for the life of an industry that has been in their families for generations.

Only nine crab processors ― which represent 95% of the state’s crab meat production ― remain in Maryland. The processors ― or picking houses ― rely on about 500 foreign seasonal workers to pick crabmeat each year. To work in the United States those workers need H-2B visas designated for temporary non-agricultural workers.

Maryland has received about 160 visas ― 340 short of what the industry says it needs.

A History of Visa Shortages

Crab processors have struggled with visa shortages for years, mostly because of competition from other seasonal businesses, including landscaping and construction.

In 2018, demand for visas was so large that the Department of Homeland Security began awarding the visas through a lottery system.

“It was just awful,” Jack Brooks, president of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, said about the 2018 visa shortage. “Watermen did not have a good market. These companies could not process and there was a huge loss of consumer confidence. Your customers want to make sure they have a reliable source of fresh Maryland crab.”

In 2019, the Labor Department issued visas on a first-come, first-served basis, and all nine processors were able to get H-2B visa workers.

This year, the Department of Labor also created a lottery system for their portion of the visa process, in addition to the Department of Homeland Security lottery, creating yet another hurdle for recipients.

Brooks, who runs Cambridge-based J.M. Clayton Seafood Company, was one of three lucky crab processors who were able to get visas. His company will have 88 H-2B visa workers arriving within a couple of weeks.

“We feel horrible for our colleagues,” Brooks said. “I mean, we’ve all been locked out before and know what it’s like, and it’s just horrible.”

Very few processors in Virginia were able to secure visas, Brooks said.

Processing houses that didn’t secure visas are dark, Brooks said. “The lights are off. Here we are just almost a month into our season and the lights are out. What do they tell their customers? What do they tell their crabbers? It’s a horrific situation.”

No Local Labor Pool

At picking houses, workers scoop meat from freshly caught crabs ― the process is laborious but quick and requires much skill. Local workers shy away from working the difficult job, especially because eight out of the nine picking houses are located on Hoopers Island, a Chesapeake Bay community of about 600 residents, about a 40-minute drive from the commercial center in Cambridge.

“What college graduate can you train to pick a can of crab meat in six minutes?” said Dayme Hahn, the manager of Faidley Seafood, a famous crab cake purveyor in Baltimore. “If you sit there and watch these people, you would say, ‘I could never do that.’”

And few workers want a seasonal job. Crabbing is a heavily regulated industry, with the Department of Natural Resources deciding when the harvest starts and ends each year ― usually sometime between April and November.

“What do those people do during the seven months they can’t work? Go on unemployment?” Hahn asked. “It has been a really good relationship with southern hemisphere workers.”

Most H-2B visa recipients who work as crab pickers are women from Mexico.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult work,” said Thurka Sangaramoorthy, a cultural and medical anthropologist who studies immigration to the Eastern Shore. “And there’s a lot of pressure.”

Sangaramoorthy says the women get paid in a piecemeal fashion, by how fast they can pick. They work very long hours, living in a house with other women they usually don’t know, while leaving children and family members behind.

“The Eastern Shore can be a difficult place to live in. It’s very sparse,” Sangaramoorthy said. “For some women they enjoy the peace and quiet and the idyllic kind of setting and for others it’s very difficult.”

But, this is a really important livelihood for them, Sangaramoorthy said.

And workers are important for the life of the crab industry.

“The [H-2B visa] program really is life or death for the business, it is,” said Janet Rippons, who runs Rippons Brothers Seafood, a crab processor that wasn’t able to secure any visas this year. Rippons has lived and worked on Hoopers Island her entire life and her family has been crabbing for generations.

Rippons Brothers was one of the last companies to use the H-2B visa program, when they began doing so in 1996. Companies that decided not to use the program went out of business.

“For whatever reason, those owners and operators refused to hire foreign workers,” Brooks said. “And now they’re all gone. Each and every one of those companies are gone.”

Rippons fears that without foreign workers, that could happen again.

“Believe you me, I want to be able to find somebody so that I can provide my own products,” Rippons said. But, in the 24 years since Rippons Brothers started using the H-2B visa program, only three or four locals have wanted a job, Rippons says.

“Will we always have Maryland crab meat? I don’t know,” Rippons said. “Finding Americans that are willing to do this job, it’s not happening.”

Driven Out of the Industry

A study conducted by Maryland’s Best Seafood (a marketing program of Maryland’s agriculture department) found that, without H-2B visa workers, income for watermen would drop by $12.5 million, processors would lose $37 million to $49 million in sales, Maryland would lose 914-1,367 jobs and the overall hit to the state’s economy could be $100 million to $150 million.

“This survey reinforces what we have learned in previous years: a lack of reliable access to H-2B workers poses a major threat to the future of this iconic industry,” Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder said in a press release.

“We are at the point where I honestly fear that the Maryland crab industry is at the brink of never coming back,” Hahn said. “And that’s a very scary place to be. Especially for me, who ― that’s our whole business model. Our business model at Faidley’s is Maryland seafood.”

Faidley’s has been around for 130 years ― Hahn’s great grandfather started selling seafood in 1886. And Hahn’s family has been buying from Rippons’ family, and other Eastern Shore families, ever since.

Restaurants and purveyors can import crabs from foreign countries, usually Venezuela, more cheaply. They can also import from other states. But, many local restaurants want Maryland crab.

Brooks says commercial crabbers will have a hard time making a living, with few workers to process their factory crabs.

“It’s going to be depressed,” Brooks said. “There will be days they can’t sell their catch at all, and there will be days they can only sell part of their catch.”

Hahn says watermen will continue to catch crabs for processors that have pickers, and for people who want to steam them and eat them at home. But, with expenses like gas, docking and licensing, Hahn fears that it will push many out of the industry.

“They’re going to have to go to another industry to make a living,” Hahn said. “And some of them ― by the end of this year ― will have decided to get out completely.”

What’s more, Hahn says, is that you are either raised in the industry and know what to do, or you aren’t. Hahn fears that if this generation of watermen leaves the industry, there won’t be another.

‘A Critical Matter’

Brooks is working with Maryland’s U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Andrew Harris (R-Cockeysville) to find a permanent fix.

Industry advocates say that seafood shouldn’t be grouped with landscape and construction just because their food cannot be grown (agriculture receives H-2A visas, and is exempt from any sort of cap). They want the visa cap removed. And they want exemptions for returning workers, who usually go to the same employers every year.

The industry used to have an exemption, but it expired and hasn’t been taken up again.

A letter to the Department of Homeland Security ― signed by seven senators, including Van Hollen and Cardin ― called the visas a “critical matter.”

“Local seafood businesses earn their livelihoods based on perishable products and need H-2B workers to harvest and process their respective seafood products so they can sell those products,” the senators wrote. “If these local businesses lose a customer base one year, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to come back into the industry.”

For purveyors, processors and watermen, the situation looks dire. Even with a slowed economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry fears it will be scrambling for workers when demand picks up when things start back up.

“The whole Maryland crabbing industry is teetering on collapse,” Hahn said. “And, you know, when I listen to Janet Rippons and I listen to Jack Brooks, or I listen to these people down the Shore, my heart bleeds. Not just for them, but for us.”

By Samantha Hawkins

Maryland Readies for Mail-in Primary on June 2

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Maryland’s primary election, postponed to June 2 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will primarily be a “vote by mail” election.

The State Board of Elections will automatically mail a ballot to all eligible voters. Ballots should be received by early to mid May. Voters do not need to ask for a ballot to receive one.

The elections board will mail ballots to the address on file. If you want your ballot mailed to another address or download it from our website, please visit the Absentee Voting page. All mailed ballots include a return envelope and prepaid postage.

To reduce the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus, the elections board recommends that voters who can vote by mail do so. Voted ballots must be postmarked on or before Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

Voters who prefer to drop off their ballots may do so at designated ballot drop off locations from Thursday, May 21, 2020, through Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

If you are unable to vote by mail, you may vote in-person between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on election day, June 2, 2020, at a vote center in the jurisdiction where you live.

If you aren’t sure if you are registered, or at what address, check your voter registration status by visiting www.elections.maryland.gov and clicking “Look up your Voter Info.” If you do not have internet access, call 1-800-222-8683 and ask a State Board of Elections representative to check your registration.

If you are a registered voter and have voted before, no identification is required to receive or submit a ballot by mail. A very small number of newly registered voters may need to provide ID with their voted ballots. If you have to provide ID, there will be instructions with your ballot.

To register to vote online, visit www.elections.maryland.gov and click “Register to Vote” to learn more. The deadline to register to vote is Wednesday, May 27, 2020.

Identification is not required to register to vote, but you must provide some information so election officials can verify your identity.

If you use the State Board’s online system to register, you must enter your Maryland driver’s license number or Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) issued state ID number, the date MVA issued your license or ID card, and the last 4 digits of your Social Security number.

If you live outside of the United States or are a member of the military or spouse or dependent of a member of the military, you must enter the last 4 digits of your US social security number.

If you provide a license or State ID number, your signature on file with the MVA will become your official voter registration signature. If you provide a social security number, it will be used as your official voter registration signature.

If you use the paper application to register, you must also provide your Maryland driver’s license number or MVA-issued state ID number if you have one. If you don’t have one, you must provide the last 4 digits of your Social Security number.

If you don’t have either number, check box 6c. If you check box 6c, you might be required to show ID before voting for the first time.

You can check that your ballot was counted by visiting www.elections.maryland.gov and clicking “Look up your Voter Info.” If you do not have internet access, call 1-800-222-8683 and ask a State Board of Elections representative to check the status of your voted ballot. The information will be posted about 10 days after the election.

To update your address, give the local board of elections where you currently live your new address information. You can use the voter registration application to make the change, or you can submit in writing your new address. Voters must update their address with their local board of elections.

For instructions on updating your address, please visit the State Board of Elections website at www.elections.maryland.gov/voting/address.html. The deadline to update your information is Wednesday, May 27.

Schools to Stay Closed Through May 15, With Talk of Extended Summer School

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Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon announced Friday that Maryland is extending the closure of schools through May 15 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, using the month-long postponement to consider long-term recovery procedure.

She said that school superintendents across the state are looking into additional distance learning and recovery plans, including the possibility of extended summer school.

“State and local school officials are preparing for a number of scenarios depending on when our educators and students would be able to re-enter school buildings,” she said at a news conference outside the State House Friday.

Salmon explained that the summer school program being planned by superintendents across the state would provide “expanded opportunities.” She described it as “robust.”

School districts are expected to deliver continuity of learning plans to the Maryland State Department of Education, including sample workday plans, procedures for measuring student performance, ways to address equity for kids with special needs and a list of resources to help everyone gain access to online instruction.

The last day of in-person classroom instruction across the state was March 13.

Efforts are underway to reactivate the state: During the news conference, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) said that his administration has been long at work on a plan.

“The recovery plan that we have been developing over many weeks has four building blocks that must be solidly in place before the lifting of restrictions,” he said. They are:

• Increasing coronavirus testing capability

• Expanding hospital surge capacity

• Strengthening the state’s access to personal protective equipment

• Establishing a “robust contact tracing operation”

Salmon said that the state has to meet each of the four marks in the governor’s plan before she could consider calling schools back into session.

Cheryl Bost, Maryland State Board of Education president and a Baltimore County elementary school teacher, called this “the right decision,” adding that while distance learning is not ideal, teachers will continue to do their best for their students.

“We know that this type of learning is no substitute for in-person learning, and we will need to be thoughtful and serious about how we help students recover from this crisis,” she said. “Recent weeks have magnified existing inequities — whether of technology access, food security, or otherwise — that our students face every day and that challenge their ability to succeed in school. We must come together to address these issues over the short- and long-term.”

Distance learning inequities for kids in under-served areas have been at the forefront of the conversation for education advocates across the state.

Salmon stated that school districts have increased their ability to reach students through online learning mechanisms, and are getting better at it.

“We are helping school systems obtain these resources such as additional devices, platforms for learning and expanded broadband capabilities that they need to carry out their plans in equitable and meaningful ways,” she said.

Maryland received $207 million in funding for schools provided by the federal CARES Act that passed late last month.

Salmon said that 90% of that money will go directly to local school districts in an effort to address gaps in distance learning resources.

The state superintendent acknowledged the anxiety that the extended school closing have created across the state.

This may be especially true for high school seniors who are set to graduate in May and June.

Salmon explained that local superintendents are looking into “creative alternatives” to traditional graduation ceremonies.

“There’s a lot of superintendents who have talked about virtual celebrations,” she said, ”and so I don’t think that we’re going to be seeing the, the types of ceremonies, at this point, that we had in the past.”

During the newly extended school closures, the Department of Education will continue to provide childcare services for essential workers.

Under the federal CARES Act passed earlier this month, Maryland has received $45.8 million to maintain these programs through the public health crisis.

Salmon said that thus far, 25,000 children have been enrolled across 3,700 state-funded sites, with the potential to serve an additional 20,000 kids, if necessary.

Essential workers in need of these services can find operating locations through a service available on the Department of Education website.

By Hannah Gaskill

Md. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rumor Control Page Launches

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The Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), and the Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT), recently launched the Maryland Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rumor Control Page. Marylanders are encouraged to visit the page at Bit.ly/Md-Covid19-Rumors.

“As part of the State Response to COVID-19, MEMA stood up its Joint Information Center to provide the right information to the right people at the right time so they can be empowered to make the right decisions,” said Jorge E. Castillo, MEMA’s spokesman.

“We have been dispelling rumors and providing factual information since then, and we want Maryland residents to be able to participate in the process by helping us identify rumors and false information that could unnecessarily cause panic or worse, result in decision making that could lead to severe injuries or even death.”

Maryland’s Rumor Page allows visitors to:

• Read through several existing rumors and find the correct information in a variety of topics, including the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19

• Maryland and Federal government orders

• Supplies

• School/Education

• Subscribe to updates to be notified immediately once a new rumor has been identified and dispelled

• Ask a question

• See a digest of trusted sources and see their latest and most relevant social media posts in real time

• Share the page easily to Facebook, Twitter, email, and more

“If you see something, say something,” Castillo said. “You can say it by clicking on the Submit a Rumor button on the right side of the page.”

Citing Estimated $2.8B Revenue Loss, Hogan Freezes State Budgets, Hiring

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Budgets are frozen and new employees aren’t being hired, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) said Friday afternoon, moments after the state’s comptroller painted a grim picture of the Maryland’s financial future in light of dramatic revenue losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the space of three months, state revenues are estimated to contract by about $2.8 billion, according to new estimates released Friday by Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) and the Bureau of Revenue Estimates.

Both income tax revenues and sales tax revenues are expected to fall by almost $1 billion before June 30, according to the new predictions. Other smaller pots of revenue, like lottery sales and court fees, have also contracted.

The losses since March and estimated through the end of June amount to about 15% of the state’s overall annual revenues.

The state has never before seen such a steep decline in revenues so close to the end of a fiscal year, officials said.

“The stay-at-home order as well as social distancing are absolutely creating the steepest economic nosedive in modern history,” Andrew Schaufele, director of Maryland’s Bureau of Revenue Estimates, said during a virtual news conference on Friday. “But in their absence, the final economic impacts would be far greater and playing out over a much longer period of time.”

The state will continue to meet payroll expenses and allow necessary increased spending to respond to the novel coronavirus, Hogan said. But his Department of Budget and Management will soon make recommendations for budget cuts, which will be required in all state agencies.

The state will also be tapping into and “spending much of, perhaps all of” the $6-billion-plus Rainy Day Fund to cope with revenue losses, Hogan said.

The state’s three-member Board of Public Works ― which includes Hogan, Franchot and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) ― is empowered to cut the state’s budget in real-time.

Franchot said the process of trimming the state’s budget by more than $1 billion during the Great Recession was likely easier than the fiscal stress the board will soon be forced to reckon with during the pandemic.

“That period, as awful as it was ― and it was just horrendously painful ― is going to be like a picnic compared to what we’re going to go through with this coronavirus impact on our state budget,” Franchot said.

Hogan noted that the fiscal estimates released Friday were a “worst-case” scenario that he hoped would not come to fruition.

“Hopefully we will not have to make the kind of cuts [the comptroller] was envisioning,” Hogan said later in the afternoon.

With much of the private sector shut down in Maryland to stop the spread of COVID-19, the state is grappling with never-before-seen figures when it comes to losses in tax revenue and employment.

In a matter of weeks, the state’s new unemployment filings have increased by nearly 5,200%, with more than 235,000 people filing new unemployment claims in just the last three weeks.

“We’ve never seen such a decline. Never,” Schaufele said.

By contrast, it took about 10 months during the Great Recession for the state to see 240,000 job losses.

Even with the sobering numbers, there are some things that may blunt the impact to Maryland’s economy.

While state income tax withholdings are expected to drop by 22%, Schaufele said it was a testament to the strength of the state’s workforce and close ties to the government that the number is not larger.

Maryland will see some financial relief from a federal stimulus package, about $4.9 billion, but that funding is generally intended to enhance safety net programs and cover new expenses, not backfill lost revenues.

The lost revenues and economic downturn will almost certainly have an impact on Democrats’ top priority this year ― a decade-long multi-billion-dollar effort to reform the state’s education system.

That bill, along with more than 650 others passed during the 2020 General Assembly session, were formally sent to Hogan’s office for consideration earlier this week. While his office has not yet reviewed the bills, Hogan said Friday “that it is very unlikely that any bills that require increased spending will be signed into law.”

In response, state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) agreed with Hogan that “we will be forced to make hard choices about priorities and values. COVID-19 has changed the world and it has changed Maryland.”

But without specifically referring to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the ambitious education spending and reform plan that the legislature passed last month, Ferguson suggested that it would be wrong for state leaders not to look ahead and bolster the state’s education system.

“This crisis will end, and the cost of containing this crisis cannot be the foreclosure on hope for a better future,” Ferguson said. “Now, more than ever, our decisions about who we are and what we believe about every individual’s God-given potential must continue to be our guide.”

Public health will dictate ‘return to normalcy’

The estimated revenue losses released Friday assume that a stay-at-home order remains in place at least through June 30.

In recent interviews, Hogan and the state’s public health professionals have expressed reluctance to begin lifting social-distancing measures too early, fearing that could cause a new spike in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses in the state.

As of Friday morning, there were 6,968 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state, and 171 Marylanders have died since mid-March.

All officials have said advice from public health experts will dictate the end of measures intended to stop the spread of the virus.

“To be clear, the timeline and pace for when we return to normalcy should and must be dictated by our public health experts, and must be influenced by the health dangers this virus may continue to pose to our citizens,” Franchot said.

By Danielle E. Gaines

Gov. Hogan Takes Aggressive Action to Protect Nursing Home Residents, Staff Amid COVID-19 Outbreaks

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Gov. Larry Hogan today enacted an emergency order to protect residents and staff at Maryland nursing home facilities, and bolster the state’s mitigation and suppression efforts amid outbreaks of COVID-19.

Effective immediately, new directives will require facilities to direct all staff who interact with residents to wear personal protective equipment, create separate observation and isolation areas for residents, and expedite all testing through the Maryland State Public Health Laboratory.

Gov. Larry Hogan

“As we have been saying for several weeks, older Marylanders and those with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable and at a significantly higher risk of contracting, getting more severely ill, and dying from this disease,” Hogan said. “Of major concern is that we currently have cases or clusters of cases at 81 nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the state. Our highest priority is keeping Marylanders safe, and we will use every tool at our disposal to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

On March 10, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) issued strong guidance to long-term and continuing care facilities to restrict visitation and begin implementing infection control protocols.

Today’s directives requires nursing home facilities to adjust and strengthen their policies, protocols, and procedures in line with all state and federal guidance related to COVID-19, and immediately adopt a series of enhanced protective measures:

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR STAFF. All personnel who are in close contact with residents of nursing homes shall wear personal protective equipment (PPE), including a face mask, appropriate eye protection, gloves, and gown. The PPE should be worn at all times while providing care to residents in the facility and personnel should follow CDC guidance for using personal protective equipment. Facilities must use the process established by MDH to request PPE from the state.

EXPEDITED TESTING FOR SYMPTOMATIC RESIDENTS. All facilities must use the most expeditious means available for testing. This includes using either a COVID-19 test kit provided by the state laboratory or another lab to send specimens to the state laboratory for expedited COVID-19 testing of residents and staff. Symptomatic residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities are among the patient groups prioritized by the state laboratory, alongside hospitalized patients and symptomatic health care providers and first responders.

SEPARATE OBSERVATION AREAS. All facilities must designate a unit of staff who are assigned to care for known or suspected COVID-19 residents; designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home as a separate observation area where newly admitted and readmitted residents are kept for 14 days on contact and droplet precautions while being observed every shift for signs and symptoms of COVID-19; and designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home to care for residents with known or suspected COVID-19.

PLACEMENT OF DISCHARGED PATIENTS. MDH’s Office of Health Care Quality will assist acute care hospitals, if necessary, in discharging patients who require nursing-home level care.  Facilities must cooperate with the Office of Health Care Quality and hospitals in the placement of discharged patients.

RIGHT OF RETURN FOR RESIDENTS. Nursing home residents admitted or seen at a hospital for COVID-19 must be allowed to return to the nursing home as long as the facility can follow the approved CDC recommendations for transmission-based precautions. If the residents must temporarily go to other facilities, every effort must be made by the receiving and original nursing homes to transfer the residents back to their original nursing homes as soon as possible.

Governor Hogan’s order makes compliance with these directives mandatory. Anyone who knowingly and willfully violates this order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding $5,000—or both.

All of Governor Hogan’s emergency orders and proclamations are available here. For COVID-19 resources, including case counts and clinician guidance, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov. 

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