Maryland Gov. Hogan tightens mask restrictions, issues travel advisory

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the country and hospitalizations climb in Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan issued orders Wednesday tightening mask-wearing restrictions and advising against travel to certain states.

Effective at 5 p.m. on Friday, everyone older than 5 must wear masks in all indoor public buildings, including restaurants, houses of worship, gyms, casinos, stores and office buildings — an expansion of the prior order from April requiring masks to be worn inside grocery stores, pharmacies and on public transit.

Masks also will now be required outdoors whenever it is not possible to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet from others.

He said expanding the mask guidance was “fact-based, a-political and solidly grounded in science. While it can be an inconvenience, especially in the heat, wearing a mask is the single best mitigation strategy that we have to fight the virus.”

Hogan also is issuing a health advisory cautioning Maryland residents not to travel to states where the percent of positive cases of coronavirus tests is greater than 10%. States currently covered include: Florida, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina, Nebraska and Idaho.

Anyone who does travel to those states are encouraged to get a coronavirus test and quarantine until receiving results.

The Republican governor’s announcements come as the state continues to see an increase in new cases and hospitalizations.

He said it was time for a “stop sign in further reopening plans” and that the state would not move into Phase III reopenings until it was “prudent” to do so.

“We do find ourselves at a fork in the road — a critical turning point — where we could either continue making progress, continue heading in the right direction or we could ignore the warnings and spike back up,” Hogan said.

He said the federal government on Tuesday identified 21 “Red Zone” states and that Maryland was not one of them. But he “we’ve come too far together to lose the progress that we’ve made.”

Hogan said the No. 1 activity of those who have tested positive recently was attending family gatherings. The next highest on the list was house parties.

”For most of us I think here is a false sense of security when you’re spending time with family and friends,” the governor said.

Hogan often touts the state’s positivity rate, which is the percentage of tests that come back positive. By the state’s calculations, the state’s seven-day average positivity rate is 4.77%, but the daily rate for Wednesday was 5.85%.

Public health officials have indicated a sustained rate of less than 5% should be met before relaxing pandemic-related restrictions.

Johns Hopkins University, which uses a different calculation for positivity rate, puts Maryland at 5.8% for the seven-day average.

Meanwhile, the number of Marylanders being treated in the hospital has been steadily increasing the past for the past two weeks. After hitting a low of 386 patients on July 13, there were 571 patients reported in the hospital on Wednesday, 126 of them in intensive care.

Twenty new deaths were reported Wednesday, bringing Maryland’s death toll from the virus to 3,347 people.

The rising numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths have caused some local officials to pull back on allowable activities.

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young put an end to indoor dining altogether, while Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman pulled the plug on indoor dining at restaurants with liquor licenses after 10 p.m.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. has said he’s contemplated restrictions on indoor dining as well, saying it “is not currently safe.”

Before Hogan’s action on Wednesday, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties already had enacted tighter mask rules than the state rule, requiring them in all indoor public spaces and outdoors when social distancing isn’t possible. Baltimore City requires the masks for those age 3 and older, while Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties require masks starting at age 2.

Anne Arundel County’s health officer, Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, has cautioned that wearing masks and practicing social distancing may be the “new normal” for the next two years. That county also has limited indoor social gatherings to 25 people and outdoor gatherings to 50.

Concerns about the virus have led many public school systems to offer online teaching this fall, rather than in-person classes.

And local elections officials say they can’t get enough election judges to work the polls for the November election, which Hogan has ordered to have all in-person polling locations and early voting centers open. Hogan also has ordered that absentee ballot applications be mailed to voters to encourage voting by mail. Some counties are considering cutting down on the number polling locations to cope with the staff shortage.

Several other states have enacted travel restrictions, requiring residents returning from states that are virus hotspots to quarantine for two weeks. Hogan previously encouraged — but did not require — post-travel quarantine, and he had not listed specific states.

This article will be updated.

Baltimore Sun reporter Phil Davis contributed to this article.

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