New MoCo Executive Order Coming Thursday covering child care, alcohol sales, escape rooms, etc.

[Anonymous]

See: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MDMONTGOMERY/bulletins/2a9c657?reqfrom=share

The order will reduce child care capacities at daycare centers to 50% while simultaneously upholding the decisions to allow late-night alcohol sales and escape rooms.

From the press release:

If adopted, Executive Order No. 122-20, COVID-19 Local Order – Amending and Restating Order dated September 29, 2020 would make the following changes to the prior orders with a proposed effective date of November 5, 2020, at 5 p.m.:

Child care
* Capacity may not exceed 50 percent for child care centers.

Escape rooms
* Permitted to open with only six people per room or game.

Food service establishments
* Clarifies that, absent a Late Night Alcohol Sales Permit, food service establishments may not sell or provide alcohol to anyone after 10 p.m., and that all alcohol must be collected from patrons by 10 p.m.
* Adds language requiring collection of information to assist with contact tracing.
* Late Night Alcohol Sales Program
* Opens the program to establishments that have not been cited or closed during the last 60 days for applications.
* Clarifies automatic suspension language.
* Amends the number of average days that trigger the suspension of the program from three days to seven days.

General housekeeping
* Updates State Executive Order numbers, County Executive Order numbers, dates, and references to other paragraphs in the Order.

Letter of approval section
* Provides deadlines by which to submit a request for a Letter of Approval and penalties for holding an event without a Letter of Approval.

Playgrounds
* Provides that playgrounds that cannot comply with the cleaning requirements as stated in the general operating requirements section must post notice that that the playground is not cleaned on an hourly basis.

Sports
* Removes flag football as a high-risk sport.
* Adds that a gathering size can exceed 50 people solely to accommodate the presence of one parent or guardian per child participant.
* Clarifies that for outdoor sports only parents guardians and immediate family are permitted to spectate.
* Adds that outdoor ice rinks would be permitted to open with size restrictions and after submitting a request for a Letter of Approval before reopening.

The public hearing will start Thursday at 11am.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I thought there might be another stay at home order coming at us.

[Anonymous]

Anything about gyms or yoga studios?

[Anonymous]

I know someone who got likely got covid from an escape room. It’s stupid they are open.

[Anonymous]

Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

[Anonymous]

I thought childcare centers were regulated by the state? There haven’t been any outbreaks sourced to childcare centers in MoCo, so why the hell are they going after those?

That’s really going to screw some parents over who have been sending their kids there.

[Anonymous]

No changes to the tattoo parlors, tanning salons, nail salons, etc. but childcare centers are at 50% rather than 80% (as they were before, I believe).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. I thought there might be another stay at home order coming at us.

Were you being serious there? Elrich and Gayles are more interested in virtue signaling at this point than fighting the pandemic. Their policies on restaurants/bars/concerts compared to child care and school have made that perfectly clear. They're not going to shut down the MoCo economy again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. I thought there might be another stay at home order coming at us.

Were you being serious there? Elrich and Gayles are more interested in virtue signaling at this point than fighting the pandemic. Their policies on restaurants/bars/concerts compared to child care and school have made that perfectly clear. They're not going to shut down the MoCo economy again.

10000% this.

Sources of cases have been:

1. Small gatherings at home. Nothing we can really do about that on the government level.

2. Indoor gatherings with poor ventilation where people eat and drink, so obviously bars, restaurants, etc.

3. Indoor, high-contact situations. That’s where tanning salons, nail salons, and tattoo parlors come in.

If they wanted to control the virus, they’d go for the above. Instead, they target childcare centers, which have had no known outbreaks in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

So, the county got caught in a lie.

The Maryland State Department of Education regulates child care. Until early October, MSDE limited child care centers to 15 people in a room. But in October they removed that restriction, allowing child care centers to go back to full capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County announced that they would be sticking to the 15 person limit. However, there was nothing in any executive or health order that gave that the force of law. Hence this new executive order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

So, the county got caught in a lie.

The Maryland State Department of Education regulates child care. Until early October, MSDE limited child care centers to 15 people in a room. But in October they removed that restriction, allowing child care centers to go back to full capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County announced that they would be sticking to the 15 person limit. However, there was nothing in any executive or health order that gave that the force of law. Hence this new executive order.

But why reduce to 50 percent?? This makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

So, the county got caught in a lie.

The Maryland State Department of Education regulates child care. Until early October, MSDE limited child care centers to 15 people in a room. But in October they removed that restriction, allowing child care centers to go back to full capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County announced that they would be sticking to the 15 person limit. However, there was nothing in any executive or health order that gave that the force of law. Hence this new executive order.

But if MSDE regulates childcare centers, how can MoCo issue an executive order that has any force at all? Can’t MSDE just say “nope, sorry, centers follow us.”

[Anonymous]

What does 50 percent mean? Like 50% building capacity? Am I screwed with my kid in preschool with 14 kids in her class and my infant in daycare with 2 other babies?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

So, the county got caught in a lie.

The Maryland State Department of Education regulates child care. Until early October, MSDE limited child care centers to 15 people in a room. But in October they removed that restriction, allowing child care centers to go back to full capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County announced that they would be sticking to the 15 person limit. However, there was nothing in any executive or health order that gave that the force of law. Hence this new executive order.

But why reduce to 50 percent?? This makes no sense.

I've been trying to understand this today.

Capacity is driven primarily by two factors: 1) child-to-provider ratio and 2) area in the classroom.

The earlier MSDE guidance set a 1:14 ratio for ages 3+, with a limit of 15 people per room. The 3-4 age group ordinarily has a 20-child maximum group size under Maryland regulations, so this COVID restriction was informally considered operating at 75% capacity when speaking with the press. The even earlier restriction from MSDE, which was in-place between March and July, limited things to 10 people per room, and was described as roughly 50% capacity.

I think this new executive order was written by someone that read the earlier news reports, but didn't understand the actual rules.

Now, separately, Maryland regulations require 35 square feet of usable floor space per child in a daycare classroom (meaning, it doesn't include bathrooms, storage rooms, adult workspaces and food preparation areas, hallways, fixed furniture, and sleeping areas). My guess is that most rooms exceed that amount, but I doubt it is anywhere near double, particularly when you remove the space that isn't supposed to be counted.

Honestly, I don't the County Executive and DHHS have been very thoughtful when writing the past executive orders, so I mostly attribute this order to laziness on their part. I doubt it was intentional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on why the child care center numbers? Is that a reduction? Was it up to full capacity?

So, the county got caught in a lie.

The Maryland State Department of Education regulates child care. Until early October, MSDE limited child care centers to 15 people in a room. But in October they removed that restriction, allowing child care centers to go back to full capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County announced that they would be sticking to the 15 person limit. However, there was nothing in any executive or health order that gave that the force of law. Hence this new executive order.

But if MSDE regulates childcare centers, how can MoCo issue an executive order that has any force at all? Can’t MSDE just say “nope, sorry, centers follow us.”

Nobody knows! Centers are stuck in the middle.