It's Over!!! MD Lifting Capacity Caps on Retail, Dining, Religious Services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

It’s in the executive order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

That is what I understood from the press conference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

Maybe he pulled an Elrich and didn’t know what was in his own order.

Dang though, and apparently the county execs had no idea this was coming.

[Anonymous]

Yikes. I hope county execs can override, because I won't be able to even get takeout if everyone is out eating and drinking without masks on, and it's going to be months before the vaccines make it down to my level. Great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want this over. I think this is a huge mistake. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm very worried.

Here are today's numbers, before the restrictions are lifted.

You do see that 9 people in the entire state were admitted to the hospital for COVID yesterday? And 14 died? As high risk folks get vaccinated, the case counts will be irrelevant. In fact, they will contribute to the herd immunity that you are seeking. If you are "very worried," it means that you are not qualified to make public health policy.

We'll just see won't we? The funny thing is that I'm not professionally qualified, yet I have been right about almost everything during the pandemic. And yes, if you only want to focus on hospitalizations and deaths the numbers aren't bad. But those are lagging indicators and the case counts doing up will drive those numbers up, especially with schools reopening. I can't belief that after all this time getting kids back into school isn't more of a priority.

I think Hogan feels his job is done in regards to schools- he offered his opinion that they should open and moved on to the text thing. He never really cared about schools, if he had he would have provided more consistent leadership as other governors did.

Hogan CANNOT force schools to open. Learn the laws of the state you live in. It’s the Board of education of each county that makes the decision. They are the ones that failed the students. Hogan can’t keep everything shut because the unions own the BOE.

So screw the kids then? Come on, he knows some districts are playing it super safe and just bringing kids back- I personally feel they have been too conservative BUT this will deliberately undermine them and potentially cause rates to go back up beyond the thresholds Hogan’s own education department had recommended.

Other state governments worked with local jurisdictions more closely to help with reopening. Hogans approach was to leave it up to the locals and then come flying in in late august with metrics once they made decisions he didn’t agree with. There’s plenty of blame to go around at both the state and local levels, and it’s partly because there’s so much animosity between the state and some counties that they can’t be bothered to work together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

Maybe he pulled an Elrich and didn’t know what was in his own order.

Dang though, and apparently the county execs had no idea this was coming.

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

Maybe he pulled an Elrich and didn’t know what was in his own order.

Dang though, and apparently the county execs had no idea this was coming.

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-reopens-maryland-covid-restrictions/2021/03/10/71f02954-8143-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

[Anonymous]

Saw the outdoor eating at Greene Turtle in Burtonsville yday unmasked every table occupied. I don’t call that distancing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw the outdoor eating at Greene Turtle in Burtonsville yday unmasked every table occupied. I don’t call that distancing

People have to take their masks off when eating and drinking.

However if you don’t think the restaurant met the spacing requirements, please report them! The county will investigate and has cited restaurants for not adhering to the requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so demoralizing. My kids are finally back in school and day care after 11 months, now that the holiday spike is over. Yet we're at a higher baseline, arpund 13-14/100k, than we have been since last May. Only 10% of the population is fully vaccinated, and opening everything up to full capacity means cases can only go up from here. We really couldn't wait to vaccinate more people and reduce our baseline? I want my kids to stay in school and I don't want to get covid from them because everyone else is packing restaurants.

But will they? The restaurants still need to maintain the minimum distance between tables, so I still don't think many will be back to pre-covid levels. Not sure what county you are in but MoCo, PG, and maybe even Howard are unlikely to go along with it.

I agree it would have been better to wait a few more weeks to make this move, but I'm not convinced its doomsday either. Rates have been falling even in areas that have been pretty open already.

Apparently, and I say this without reading the whole order, this action by Hogan also removed the abilities of the County execs to enact tighter measures than the state order.

Wow. You're absolutely right. The whole "local orders" provision expires on the 12th.

I wonder what this means for the other restrictions in MoCo orders. E.g., the mask provisions.

Wow. Elrich is gonna be apoplectic.

Are we sure that’s right? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.

I thought Hogan explicitly said yesterday local jurisdictions are free to maintain greater restrictions.

Maybe he pulled an Elrich and didn’t know what was in his own order.

Dang though, and apparently the county execs had no idea this was coming.

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-reopens-maryland-covid-restrictions/2021/03/10/71f02954-8143-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

I appreciate the link!

It does seem that counties are still able to impose their own limits “ Hogan’s order Tuesday also revoked local-level restrictions, leaving county leaders scrambling to decide whether and how to reimpose stricter rules in the face of plateauing coronavirus cases and widening spread of concerning variants.”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-reopens-maryland-covid-restrictions/2021/03/10/71f02954-8143-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

That was helpful. Sounds like the order ended existing local restrictions, but does not prevent them from making new ones.

“Hogan’s order Tuesday also revoked local-level restrictions, leaving county leaders scrambling to decide whether and how to reimpose stricter rules in the face of plateauing coronavirus cases and widening spread of concerning variants.”

“Cities and counties that want to maintain some restrictions probably will have to reissue those orders, officials from four different jurisdictions said in interviews.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want this over. I think this is a huge mistake. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm very worried.

Here are today's numbers, before the restrictions are lifted.

You do see that 9 people in the entire state were admitted to the hospital for COVID yesterday? And 14 died? As high risk folks get vaccinated, the case counts will be irrelevant. In fact, they will contribute to the herd immunity that you are seeking. If you are "very worried," it means that you are not qualified to make public health policy.

We'll just see won't we? The funny thing is that I'm not professionally qualified, yet I have been right about almost everything during the pandemic. And yes, if you only want to focus on hospitalizations and deaths the numbers aren't bad. But those are lagging indicators and the case counts doing up will drive those numbers up, especially with schools reopening. I can't belief that after all this time getting kids back into school isn't more of a priority.

I think Hogan feels his job is done in regards to schools- he offered his opinion that they should open and moved on to the text thing. He never really cared about schools, if he had he would have provided more consistent leadership as other governors did.

Hogan CANNOT force schools to open. Learn the laws of the state you live in. It’s the Board of education of each county that makes the decision. They are the ones that failed the students. Hogan can’t keep everything shut because the unions own the BOE.

So screw the kids then? Come on, he knows some districts are playing it super safe and just bringing kids back- I personally feel they have been too conservative BUT this will deliberately undermine them and potentially cause rates to go back up beyond the thresholds Hogan’s own education department had recommended.

Other state governments worked with local jurisdictions more closely to help with reopening. Hogans approach was to leave it up to the locals and then come flying in in late august with metrics once they made decisions he didn’t agree with. There’s plenty of blame to go around at both the state and local levels, and it’s partly because there’s so much animosity between the state and some counties that they can’t be bothered to work together.

The MoCo Council also started loosening restrictions well before meeting the 15/100,000 new case metric. You literally had Elrich and Gayles saying indoor dining was OK and reasonably safe, but that schools couldn't reopen. That lasted about a week before Gayles at least started being less adamant against reopening schools. Elrich went mostly quiet on MCPS reopening once case counts dropped below the metric, but certainly hasn't been supportive.

The issue with schools is simply local politics. MCEA/MSEA is the most politically active group in local politics. Every Democrat is scared to challenge them.

I'm not particularly supportive of Hogan's new order. And I especially think the sudden change on local orders was entirely inappropriate, clearly meant as an FU to MoCo and PG County. But with the exception of this apparent temper tantrum, I think Hogan has consistently acted in good faith, and has been consistent in his approach for balancing the public health risks against the societal cost of restrictions. I wouldn't say the same for MoCo. You just have to look at schools to see that.

And Elrich has made it abundantly clear that his plan for the pandemic is to blame everything on Hogan (and Trump). I don't know how you'd expect them to be able to work together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-reopens-maryland-covid-restrictions/2021/03/10/71f02954-8143-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

That was helpful. Sounds like the order ended existing local restrictions, but does not prevent them from making new ones.

“Hogan’s order Tuesday also revoked local-level restrictions, leaving county leaders scrambling to decide whether and how to reimpose stricter rules in the face of plateauing coronavirus cases and widening spread of concerning variants.”

“Cities and counties that want to maintain some restrictions probably will have to reissue those orders, officials from four different jurisdictions said in interviews.”

But they will, apparently, have to use different authorities. The MoCo order, for instance, derives its authority from the state order. But the state order no longer provides for more restrictive local orders, so they're going to have to find something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t see any of this being reported in the news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-reopens-maryland-covid-restrictions/2021/03/10/71f02954-8143-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

That was helpful. Sounds like the order ended existing local restrictions, but does not prevent them from making new ones.

“Hogan’s order Tuesday also revoked local-level restrictions, leaving county leaders scrambling to decide whether and how to reimpose stricter rules in the face of plateauing coronavirus cases and widening spread of concerning variants.”

“Cities and counties that want to maintain some restrictions probably will have to reissue those orders, officials from four different jurisdictions said in interviews.”

But they will, apparently, have to use different authorities. The MoCo order, for instance, derives its authority from the state order. But the state order no longer provides for more restrictive local orders, so they're going to have to find something else.

Elrich will get Gayles to issue multiple short term orders for public health reasons.