Today at 12:30pm, Governor Larry Hogan briefed the State of Maryland with an update and the steps the State is taking to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Currently there are 6968 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Virus in Maryland including 554 in Anne Arundel County. 171 deaths in Maryland have been reported so far, 16 in Anne Arundel County. In terms of the age breakdown:
- 0 to 9 — 36
- 10 to 19 — 146
- 20 to 29 — 772
- 30 to 39 — 1205
- 40 to 49 — 1281
- 50 to 59 — 1421
- 60 to 69 — 1051
- 70 to 79 — 685
- 80+ — 371
Full details can be found here (updated daily around 10:00am)
This afternoon, the Governor highlighted the following points and actions to help Marylanders fight the COVID-19 virus:
- A new sterilization center will be set up at BWI to sterilize masks and PPE to allow for use multiple times.
- Established COVID Connect for patients recovering fro COVID. https://www.health.maryland.gov/covidconnect/
- $2.8B projected loss of revenue for FY 2020 which is a 50% loss
- Immediate budget freeze on all state spending on all non-COVID expenses. Exception is payroll
- Statewide hiring freeze
- Unlikely that any of the bills submitted to the Governor requiring spending funds will not be signed into law
- 240,000 + Marylanders have applied for unemployment benefits in the past month. This is more than all claims in 2019
- Unemployment phone lines and websites are overwhelmed. Moving employees from other agencies to assist Department of Labor.
- Elections. The June 2, 2020 primary will be done PRIMARILY with mail in ballots. There will be exceptions made for those who are unable to vote by mail.
- Proclaiming that the Easter Bunny is now an essential worker and Easter baskets can be delivered
- Unemployment benefits are being sent out in less than 21 days
- By the end of next week, MD will be implementing the Federal programs for the $600+ Program
- No date on the self-employed on gig workers, but you can sign up to be notified when it is available.
At his prior press conference on March 30,2020, the following actions were put into place:
- Effective 8PM tonight an Executive Order (PDF below–if it does not display, there is a link to download the file) ordering Maryland residents to stay at home will go into effect. Only essential personnel will be allowed out. People may leave their homes for food, medicine, and emergency medical appointments. Only essential businesses will remain open and the Governor instructed them to limit exposure to customers and to allow telework as much as possible. Violation of this order is a violation of State law and is a misdemeanor. If convicted, violators are subject to up to a $5000 fine and 1 year in prison.
- Hogan is asking anyone that has traveled outside of the State to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days.
- Similarly, he has requested all Marylanders to not travel outside of the state for any reason unless absolutely necessary.
- The Governor has requested all law enforcement to enforce the directive.
- A statewide emergency text alert will be sent to all mobile devices across Maryland advising of the Stay at Home Directive.
- Hogan reiterated that we are at the beginning of the crisis and it will get worse before it gets better.
