Thursday, June 04, 2020

Montgomery County won't join rest of Maryland in Phase 2 reopening Friday

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has put Montgomery County officials on the hot seat again, announcing that he will move the state's reopening from coronavirus lockdown to Phase 2 on Friday, June 5, 2020 at 5:00 PM. Montgomery only entered Phase 1 three days ago, long after most of the state did. That led to many complaints from the business community and residents who argue the damage to their livelihoods and the economy is worse than the risk of contracting coronavirus. With County Executive Marc Elrich making clear he once again will be taking a more cautious approach than Hogan, those critics are livid.

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.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Typical Elrich bungling:

1. 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.

Anonymous said...

“Florida Gov. DeSantis reopens bars, movie theaters and concert halls after coronavirus shutdowns” https://buff.ly/3cxOJ39

Cinco de Mayo said...

Those arguing for relaxing restrictions don't know the horrible effects of COVID-19.

Anonymous said...

We've been lied to by all levels of government during this pandemic.

Trump2020 said...

All levels? Surely you don’t mean Trump

Anonymous said...

I’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.

I 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.

Anonymous said...

@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.

Anonymous said...

That’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.

Anonymous said...

@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.