Governor Larry Hogan gave a special news conference on 5/27/20 outlining new developments in Maryland’s reopening. See below for key takeaways prepared for our clients, or view the full briefing here.
Testing
- Maryland has reached the goal of conducting 10,000 tests per day
- The state has now completed 300,444 coronavirus tests statewide and continues to expand testing capacity.
- Two additional testing sites are opening in Prince George’s County this week at:
- Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program station in Clinton on Thursday
- Six Flags America in Upper Marlboro on Friday
Contact Tracing
- Maryland’s contact tracing operation is now fully operational.
- The state has increased its tracing capacity by nearly 500% with more than 1,400 case investigators.
- Maryland is able to track up to 1,000 cases and 10,000 contacts daily.
Positivity Rate
- Expanded testing and tracing capacity gives us the ability to take a closer look at positivity rates—a key metric now being used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other states.
- In Maryland, the statewide positivity rate peaked 41 days ago, on April 17, when it was 26.91%.
- Since then, it has dropped by more than 50%, down to 12.8%
Reopening
Effective at 5pm Friday 5/29, the following businesses will be allowed to reopen (following CDC guidelines.)
- Restaurants
- Restaurants and social organizations may begin safely reopening for outdoor dining following strict public health requirements.
- Restaurant patrons must be appropriately distanced, with no more than six people seated at a table.
- Restaurants must use single-use disposable menus or sanitize reusable menus between each use.
- Restaurants must sanitize outdoor tables and chairs, and begin screening procedures, including daily temperature checks of staff.
- Masks must be worn when interacting with employees or patrons.
- Outdoor activities and recreation
- Safe youth sports activities may resume, following CDC guidelines with limited, low contact, outdoor practices.
- Outdoor activities at youth day camps may resume with capacity limitations of no more than 10 individuals in a group and daily COVID-19 symptom checks for camp staff and campers.
- Drive-in movie theaters will also be able to safely reopen.
- Outdoor pools may also reopen Friday with strict safety guidelines including:
- 25% capacity restrictions
- strict physical distancing and sanitization measures.
- Pool visitors will be required to sign-in and sign-out
- pools will be required to post signage warning anyone who is sick not to enter.
Watch the Governor’s full address on Youtube, or reach out to us with questions or concerns directly at 410-321-8200.
