By Friday evening, most of the state will be permitted to reopen businesses the governor had termed "non-essential." Churches, hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, massage parlors, tanning salons and tattoo parlors will be allowed to reopen at 50% of capacity inside. But not in Montgomery County. Elrich said on Twitter that he and other officials are evaluating if any of the loosened criteria lines up with Montgomery's Phase 1 guidelines.
Even Hogan did not escape criticism Wednesday, as his executive order still does not allow gyms, movie theaters, indoor malls, amusement parks, bowling alleys, or sporting events. One Twitter critic said the governor was "social distancing from reality."
Still others remain afraid to venture out to businesses just yet, and are in no hurry to loosen restrictions. By the middle of next week, we should know whether or not the Memorial Day weekend Ocean City boardwalk crowds caused a spike in infections or not. If so, leaders will be in quite a pickle. If not, they'll still be under fire, as there will be even more demand to reopen at the county and state levels.
Never heard a word about all the teens on spring break in FL, if they spread anything. I have to think some in the media would have been all over that, if it occurred.
ReplyDeleteTypical Elrich bungling:
ReplyDelete1. He knew Hogan was going to make the announcement yesterday. Why didn't he he have his plan ready? Whatever it is. Now it's just "we're evaluating". What does that mean? Give us some dates or targets!
2. Playgrounds were allowed to open in Stage 1a, and all MD counties did so.. except MoCo. MoCo is on Stage 1b, and still playgrounds are closed. Why not just follow the state guidelines and open the appropriate items in each stage, like the rest of the state? Why does MoCo need to be diferent and make things complicated? Mismanagement, that's why.
“Florida Gov. DeSantis reopens bars, movie theaters and concert halls after coronavirus shutdowns” https://buff.ly/3cxOJ39
ReplyDeleteThose arguing for relaxing restrictions don't know the horrible effects of COVID-19.
ReplyDeleteWe've been lied to by all levels of government during this pandemic.
ReplyDeleteAll levels? Surely you don’t mean Trump
DeleteI’m a Democrat and I really do like Hogan. I feel he had done a great job in MD with the pandemic. But the reopening feels too soon. I’m glad Montgomery County is still assessing and opening later.
ReplyDeleteI understand businesses need to reopen when owners and employees depend on it for their livelihood. But for personal reasons such as wanting a hair cut or to go to the gym, that just seems like a selfish want versus need.
@7:46 All Hogan is doing is _allowing_ counties to enter the next phase. It's up to each county to decide on that. Remember places like Garrett County have fewer cases total than Montgomery County gets in 1 day.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a really good point, and I’m glad Montgomery County and PG County are minding their own data. It does feel like though the governor isn’t really communicating with the counties, and throwing Montgomery county executive under the bus a little.
Delete@8:51 Garrett County has less than half as many residents as Bethesda alone, ~29,000 to our 63,000. MoCo has over a million residents. It is unsurprising that a populous urban area has more cases of a contagious disease than a barely inhabited rural region.
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