Hogan declares state of emergency as Maryland hospitalizations soar

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday declared a 30-day state of emergency that will aid hospital staff and mobilize members of the National Guard to help staff COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites as the state deals with a massive surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Maryland on Tuesday hit a record high 3,057 COVID-19 hospitalizations, an increase of more than 500 percent in the past seven weeks.

Hogan said new projections show that COVID-19 hospitalizations could reach more than 5,000 in the coming weeks, which is more than 250 percent higher than the previous peak.

"The truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging of the entire pandemic," Hogan said during a press conference.

Hogan said the 3,000 hospitalizations was a "major milestone" to cross, and future projections are "drastically different" than they were previously, which lead to new actions.

As part of the emergency response, Hogan said he was giving Maryland's Health Secretary authority to regulate hospital personnel, space and supplies.

Hogan also activated 1,000 members of the National Guard, including 250 who will be deployed to support COVID-19 testing sites at hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, and to assist with patient transport.

The state is also opening 20 additional testing sites outside of hospitals in order to keep up with current testing demand and divert people away from visiting hospital emergency rooms just to get a test.

Hogan said the administration's focus has been on keeping people out of the hospital and preventing deaths. He said there was no plan to reinstate a statewide mask mandate, because "we don't have the ability to enforce it."

But the state's most populous counties currently have mask mandates in place, and Hogan on Monday required masks in all government facilities.

"I'm not sure the people refusing to wear a mask are going to wear one anyway," Hogan said. "We're just strongly encouraging people to wear the damn mask, but we don't need a mandate to force businesses to do that. We're just encouraging them to do so."