Montgomery County’s executive is so concerned about the trajectory of coronavirus cases in the Maryland county and across the state that he wants to go back to Phase One restrictions.
“We’re in danger of overwhelming hospitals, the projections for Maryland aren’t good — small steps won’t bend the curve in the right direction,” Marc Elrich tweeted Monday.
Need to go back to Phase 1. We’re in danger of overwhelming hospitals, the projections for MD aren’t good -small steps won’t bend the curve in the right direction. We need the new Admin to get real assistance to businesses that bear this load. It’s not blue or red, it’s all of us
— Marc Elrich (@Marc_Elrich) November 23, 2020
Elrich heads Maryland’s largest county. Montgomery County has a population of more than 1 million people.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has a 4 p.m. news conference to address the surge in COVID-19 cases. He will address additional statewide enforcement measures and will be joined by Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt, Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Jerry Jones and Restaurant Association of Maryland President and CEO Marshall Weston.
Maryland saw 1,658 new confirmed cases Monday, and 14 additional deaths and 39 additional hospitalizations.
In all, Maryland has 183,797 cases. Sixteen Maryland counties have populations that are smaller than that.
Hogan unveiled a host of new restrictions last week.
Phase One restrictions generally called for people to remain at home, and restaurants were restricted to carryout only.
Earlier this month, Montgomery County and a handful of other counties implemented their own new restrictions, ordering bars, restaurants and houses of worship to operate at 25% capacity down from 50%.
WTOP’s Colleen Kelleher contributed to this story.
