The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services will hold an informational lecture today (Thursday, September 16th) called “How The Delta Variant Affects Those 55+: What Lies Ahead”

There are still slots available to sign up for this free lecture where you will be able to hear from Dr. James Bridgers, Montgomery County’s Deputy Health Officer.

If you’re interested in joining the meeting, which will be held on Zoom, you can register here.

Featured image courtesy of Montgomery County DHHS.

Germantown Wegmans Speaks Out Against Possible Upcoming Restrictions

At 1pm on Tuesday, December 15th the Montgomery County Council will introduce, hold a public hearing, and vote on a resolution and Board of Health regulation that would approve the amended version of Executive Order 139-20 that would put further Covid restrictions in place for the county.

If approved, the restrictions would go into effect at 5pm on the same day (Tuesday, 12/15).

The store manager of the only Wegmans location in Montgomery County wrote a letter to its customers with concern about reducing the occupancy of super markets to 150 people– citing that the number is just 5% of the Germantown store’s occupancy.

Many other local businesses expressed concern about the effect the new restrictions could have on their ability to survive the winter.

The full letter from Wegmans can be seen below.

On Tuesday December 15, the Montgomery County Council is voting on reducing the occupancy of supermarkets to 150 people, which is only 5% of our Germantown store’s capacity. While there is no doubt this is well-intentioned, we believe the restrictions will limit the ability of Montgomery County residents to obtain the food and medications they need. Since the start of the pandemic, we have been quick to employ new safety measures, including Plexiglas barriers, enhanced sanitation, signage and social distancing cues, employee wellness screenings, and masking for employees and customers. Limiting the number of people in our stores is key to keeping our stores a safe place to shop. Since November 10, we have operated at the required 25% occupancy, which allows us to effectively serve our customers, while also allowing them to socially distance. What the County Executive has proposed is a one-size-fits-all maximum of 150 people for every retail establishment, regardless of size. With this approach, a 30,000 square foot store can allow the same number of customers as our 124,000 square foot store. We have shown our store can easily accommodate many more customers and still allow plenty of room for social distancing. As we focus on making our stores safe and accessible during this difficult time, we are concerned about the unintended consequences of the County Council’s impending mandate: A 150-person limit will force customers to wait in long lines, in winter weather, to shop. If an individual chooses to shop in a smaller store that is subject to the same occupancy limit, they will be in a more crowded space than they would be in a larger store. Most counties have been operating at a 50% occupancy limit for retail, and some are now reducing that to 25%. Giving Montgomery County residents an incentive to travel elsewhere to obtain food and other essential items works against all other measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. We know from experience, if people think they won’t be able to get food and other essential items, it induces a higher level of anxiety and frustration. Imposing further capacity limits will result in lines, which will only exacerbate the problem, particularly as pictures of the lines inevitably appear on social media. Such restrictive occupancy limits will limit the availability of our grocery delivery and curbside pickup service. We have demonstrated that the current retail occupancy limits, along with all other requirements, work to contain the spread of the virus. We have successfully operated within these limits for more than a month, including over Thanksgiving, with no concerns from the Department of Health. Imposing one-size-fits-all requirements on essential retail stores would have significant adverse consequences for the residents of Montgomery County. We encourage the county to maintain the current 25% occupancy limits. Please voice your concerns and encourage maintaining our current 25% occupancy limit by visiting the county’s website or sending an email to [email protected]. Thank you, Christopher Sargent Store Manager, Germantown

Montgomery County moves to ban single-use plastic straws.

Expected to take effect on May 1, 2021, the new legislation will require restaurants to phase out plastic straws by the next year.

“We were ahead of most counties on this in recognizing the need to reduce plastic and polystyrene and styrofoam and other products,” Council President Tom Hucker said at Tuesday’s virtual council meeting. Although this law may seem small, it can help make a difference for the environment. A sizable portion of aquatic pollution, plastic straws make up 200,000 tons of the annual 8 million tons of plastic that flows into the oceans.

Restaurants will still keep a small supply of straws for individuals with disabilities. However, the straws will have to be made of biodegradable material.

Notes From Governor Hogan’s 12/10 Press Conference

For the first time all of Maryland’s jurisdictions are in the “red zone.”

20 straight days with more than 2,000 new cases.

1,720 Covid patients are hospitalized today in Maryland, which is our highest total ever during the pandemic (including 416 Marylanders in the ICU, which is the highest level since June 6th).

88% of staffed acute beds are occupied. 87% of ICU beds are occupied. 143 surge beds are currently in use.

“We are continuing to monitor all of our data metrics to determine what additional statewide mitigation actions may be required.”

Congress must take action in a Covid 19 relief package.

Over $215 million of Maryland’s $500 million economic relief package has now been provided through Covid 19 emergency relief fund to more than 16,000 businesses.

$50 million has been distributed to all 24 jurisdictions for our restaurant relief fund to support both indoor and outdoor dining.

MD provided $75 million in emergency loans to Maryland businesses and all $75 million will be forgiven and converted to grants.

MD is funding $25 million in low-income housing tax credit projects.

“Every day we try to balance all those competing priorities. We’re trying to save people’s lives first and foremost, keep hospitals from overflowing but we’re trying to keep as many businesses open as possible.”

”We’re gonna continue to take more actions as we see fit.”

“Indoor dining is an issue if there are people crowded in to bars and restaurants, not wearing masks. We took actions.”

Why not announce statewide restrictions? Would another round of stimulus make it easier for you to shut things down?

“We are trying to make the decisions that are balanced and appropriate based on the facts on the ground.”

”County leaders are able to make their own decisions about being more restrictive…and they have.”

Governor Larry Hogan will hold a press conference today at 3 p.m. to provide a Covid-19 update to Marylanders.

The press conference will be available on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich today announced further safety restrictions in order to slow the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in the County and throughout the Washington region. The restrictions will begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

The new Executive Order 139-20 will restrict restaurant service to outdoor dining. Carry-out, delivery and drive-through service will be allowed to continue. The order also limits indoor sports gatherings to a maximum of 10 people total. (Outdoor dining will be prohibited between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., per an existing Executive Order from Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.) The maximum capacity for retail establishments has been changed to one person per 200 square feet of retail space—not to exceed a maximum of 150 persons.

A three-day rolling average of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County is 438. Hospitalizations and deaths are increasing in the County.

The Executive Order has been sent to the County Council for its review. The Council can approve or disapprove the order but cannot change it.

“We have been experiencing weeks with our daily case counts up dramatically,” said County Executive Elrich. “Our cases per 100,000 are now at 41, and 78 percent of our hospital beds are full. All the data and trends indicate that we are heading toward more difficult times and it is imperative that we take action now. We cannot wait for our hospitals to be overflowing. This was a difficult decision, and I know that it is hard on our businesses. I encourage everyone to support our local businesses. We must take steps to slow the spread of this virus.”

Dr. Travis Gayles, the County health officer, said: “We are currently seeing unprecedented numbers of new daily cases of COVID-19 and everybody needs to understand the severity of this matter and the negative impacts it can have. It is imperative that every one of us living in Montgomery County does everything we can to slow the spread of this virus. We are seeing widespread community transmission and we will all need to sacrifice aspects of our lives in order to bring this under control.”

The number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Montgomery County, as reported today by the Maryland Department of Health, showed an increase of more than 2,000 in the past week. The County has had more than 37,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 956 deaths.

County officials continue to remind residents that wearing a mask is the law in the County and throughout Maryland. This includes outdoors. Wearing a plastic face shield does not satisfy the face covering mandate, nor does wearing a face covering with a valve. Those examples have been shown to be ineffective at protecting the spread of the aerosol droplets that can cause COVID-19.