Montgomery County will continue to maintain the current level of pandemic restrictions and follow the reopening plan recently approved in the latest Board of Health regulation despite the governor’s state changes announced yesterday.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said the state would lift all capacity restrictions on outdoor entertainment, art, and sports venues and indoor entertainment venues and conventions, and all remaining restrictions on indoor and outdoor dining, as of Saturday, May 15.
In addition, the state’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted as soon as 70% of adults receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The state officially passed the 65% mark yesterday.
“Here in Maryland, our plan is to get everything back to normal by Memorial Day,” said Hogan in a press release. “We are making amazing progress toward that goal. But once again, the fastest way to get rid of our damn masks and to put this pandemic behind us once and for all is for every single eligible Marylander to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
Nevertheless, in a joint statement emailed this morning but not yet online, County Executive Marc Elrich and the County Council said, “The county’s April 27 Board of Health regulation remains in effect and provides a phased approach to reopening based on the percentage of the population vaccinated. Once 50% of county residents are fully vaccinated, we will move to full reopening in line with the new state order.”
The statement added that the county is on track to reach that goal by before May 15. With the two-week waiting period to be considered fully vaccinated with a Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, the county should be ready to return to normal operations by May 29.
At that point, the county would follow any state or Maryland Department of Health requirements in place at the time.
Montgomery County graphic