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News Maryland News

Hogan Issues State of Emergency, Calls on Feds For More Decisive Action on Vaccines, Treatments

January 5, 2022 by Maryland Matters

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) proclaimed a 30-day state of emergency Tuesday morning, stating that Maryland will see the pandemic reach its worst points in January through early February.

“…[T]he truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic,” Hogan said.

The Maryland Department of Health reported an additional 311 hospitalizations Tuesday morning, pushing the state to a new peak of 3,057 in total. Hogan said that state health officials project that “could reach more than 5,000” — more than 250% higher than the state’s previous peak of 1,952 hospitalized COVID patients.

Tuesday also saw nearly 14,500 confirmed cases and 48 deaths. The state’s positivity rate rests at 27.44%.

“Right now we’re experiencing the winter surge that we anticipated, together with the convergence of the delta variant, the flu season and the omicron variant which has spread like wildfire throughout the country and around the world,” Hogan said.

Under the proclamation Hogan has the ability to “take urgent, short-term actions to combat the current crisis,” he said.

Hogan also issued two executive orders Tuesday.

The first order gives Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader the authority to direct and expedite the transfer of patients between hospitals and create alternate care facilities, allows for interstate reciprocity to let health care workers licensed in nearby states to practice in Maryland, lets inactive practitioners provide care services without renewing their licenses and gives graduate nurses the greenlight to provide care in hospitals and other health care settings.

Hogan’s second order expands the state’s emergency medical workers by giving the executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems and the chairperson of the State Emergency Medical Services Board the authority to suspend portions of state code to allow more people to practice on the frontlines.

Additionally, the governor announced that he has deployed 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to aid local health officials in testing and transporting patients.

Access to testing has been front of mind for many Marylanders who have waited hours in lines after the holiday. The demand for testing portends increased case rates, and potentially hospitalizations.

According to Dr. Theodore Delbridge, the executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, Tuesday’s hospitalization rate represents a 100% increase in the number of hospitalizations from Dec. 22 — only two weeks ago. He also noted that nine hospitals have begun operating under crisis standards of care, with three more on the verge of doing so.

“As of yesterday afternoon, more than 600 patients — people — were waiting in emergency departments for their turn to be admitted to a hospital bed,” Delbridge said.

He added that nearly every Maryland emergency department is requesting that EMS teams reroute patients to other hospitals to try to mitigate patient overflow.

“Of course, that’s not possible when every nearby emergency department is also requesting no new patients,” said Delbridge.

Hogan continued to push for vaccinations, adding that booster shots are now available to Maryland children aged 12 through 15 five months after they received their second dose.

The governor said that “nearly 75%” of people who tested positive and “nearly 84%” of those who died from COVID-related complications in 2021 were not fully vaccinated.

“The vaccines are safe and effective, and they’re keeping people out of the hospital and saving lives,” Hogan said.

While Hogan declared a state of emergency, he did not mandate statewide masking.

Hogan said that masking mandates can result in “the opposite effect.”

“I’m not sure the people that are refusing to wear masks are going to wear one anyway. We don’t have the ability to enforce it, so 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 encouraging them to do so,” he said.

Rather, the governor, who was scheduled to attend a call with the White House shortly after the news conference, said that he would be pushing the federal government to shorten the length of time between second doses of vaccines and boosters, increase the availability of monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic clinical treatment and to expedite the approval and distribution of at-home rapid tests and the newly FDA-approved Pfizer antiviral pills.

“All of the emergency actions that we’re taking today are to keep our hospitals from overflowing to keep our kids in school and to keep Maryland open for business and we will continue to take whatever actions are necessary in the very difficult days and weeks ahead,” Hogan said. “But we also need the federal government to take decisive action.”

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News Tagged With: coronavirus, Covid-19, emergency, Gov. Larry Hogan, Health, Maryland, pandemic

Hogan Closes Restaurant Dining but Keeps Drive-through, Carryout & Delivery Services Options

March 16, 2020 by John Griep

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has ordered all restaurants, bars, movie theaters and gyms in the state to close indefinitely beginning at 5 p.m. Monday. Hogan also has banned all gatherings of more than 50 people.

“We need to do our part to stop this deadly virus from spreading,” Hogan said in a late Monday morning press conference before announcing new executive orders to protect public health and safety.

Drive-through, carryout, and food delivery services will be allowed to continue to operate, the governor said. Essential services such as grocery stores, food delivery, gas stations, banks, and pharmacies need to remain open.

As far as other retail establishments, Hogan said, “we don’t want anyone congregating with more than 50 people in one place regardless of what kind of a facility it is, but we don’t want to completely shut down commerce and we want people to get the things they need.”

“We don’t want large crowds of people in small, confined spaces, but we want as much as possible for daily life to go on and for people to get the things they need, especially on essential services,” he said.

The governor said he expects federal and state resources to assist individuals and businesses.

“Following updated CDC guidelines, we are prohibiting any social, community, religious, recreational, sports gatherings or events of more than 50 people in close proximity at all locations, establishments, and venues all across Maryland,” Hogan said. “These emergency orders carry the full force of the law and will be strictly enforced.”

“I want to again reiterate that it is impossible to know how long this threat will continue,” Hogan said Monday. “What I do know is that we cannot afford to wait to take action. While these measures may seem extreme, if we do not take them now, it could be too late.

“I will make whatever decisions and take whatever actions are necessary to save the lives of thousands of Marylanders and to protect our way of life itself.”

On Twitter Sunday afternoon, Hogan had put restaurants and bars on notice, tweeting: “I want to once again reiterate that bars, restaurants, and other non-essential businesses across the state MUST comply with the executive order prohibiting mass gatherings. Failure to follow this order is a crime, and will be enforced if businesses fail to comply.”

“We’re no longer asking for people’s cooperation,” he said Monday. “We’re not fooling around anymore.”

The administration has activated 250 state troopers from the mobile field force to help with enforcement.

Hogan has ordered the state health department to assess closed hospital facilities across Maryland to determine if those could be opened for use during the pandemic and to take other measures necessary to immediately increase capacity by 6,000 hospital beds “in order to meet the demand created by the escalating spread of this virus.”

The governor said the state has activated the Maryland Medical Reserve Corps, “a force of 5,000 dedicated and trained medical volunteers who are ready to assist in a public health emergency,” with 700 already activated for deployment.

Hogan’s executive orders also will allow any medical professional with a valid out-of-state license or an expired Maryland medical license to practice medicine in the state during the state of emergency.

“What we’re experiencing here is unprecedented, it is a public health emergency,” Fran Phillips, the state’s deputy health secretary, said.

“The one response we can muster (right now) is social distancing,” she said. “The steps that every Marylander can take today to put that distance between themselves and others is vitally important to slow down the spread of this infection across our state.”

The state activated 400 National Guardsmen, including two area support medical companies over the weekend, with 1,000 members now fully activated and another 1,200 on enhanced readiness, “with their bags packed fully ready for activation,” Hogan said.

Karen Salmon, Maryland state school superintendent

The state education department has requested a federal waiver and will serve three meals a day and a snack to students who need it while schools are closed; 138 centers are already “up and operating,” the governor said.

Karen Salmon, state school superintendent, said the waiver, to allow schools to deliver more than two meals a day, hasn’t been granted yet, but the state is proceeding with its plans to do so.

To find a location, go to mdsummermeals.org, she said. “We anticipate serving about 100,000 meals over the next two weeks.”

Asked whether schools would close longer than the two weeks Salmon had previously ordered, she said, “We are actively looking at the modeling that shows where this virus is going.

“The reason I closed schools for two weeks is to give us some time to assess the situation.”

Hogan said the state also is looking at contingencies for the April 26 primary election.

In other executive orders:

• All utility companies — including electric, gas, water, sewer, telephone, cable TV, and internet service providers — are prohibited from shutting off services or charging late fees to residential customers.

• Evictions of any tenants are prohibited during the state of emergency.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: 1 Homepage Slider Tagged With: closures, Covid-19, emergency, executive orders, Gov. Larry Hogan, Health

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