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May 29, 2023

Chestertown Spy

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Md. Health Secretary Pushes Back as Senators Call for Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccines in Schools

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Senators continued to push Maryland Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader to exercise his authority to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for eligible school-age students Monday.

“I brought this up in the last briefing last month and you weren’t sure that you had the authority to do so and it sounds like this month, you’re still uncertain and not willing to explore that as a possibility,” Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard) said at a meeting of the Senate Vaccine Oversight Workgroup Monday. “I hope that next month you’ll be able to bring back some additional considerations as to how you can improve those rates in schools through a mandatory vaccination program in conjunction with [the Maryland State Department of Education].”

According to a presentation from the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability for the Department of Legislative Services, since school has been in session, the sharpest increase in COVID positivity rates in the state has been among children.

About 72% of children between 12 and 17 years old have received at least one shot.

Lam asked Schrader what is being done to encourage eligible minors to get vaccinated.

Schrader said that the Department of Health has “two tracks of priority:” getting booster shots in the arms of the state’s most vulnerable and tracking down the nearly one million eligible Marylanders who have yet to get vaccinated.

But Schrader also clearly demonstrated his disinterest in mandating COVID-19 vaccines for school-aged students.

Under Maryland’s education code, the Department of Health has the ability to issue regulations that require students to be inoculated to attend school.

“You do have the tool to be able to require vaccination of students going into schools,” said Lam. “Is that right, is that something that you’re looking at?”

Schrader responded “not at the moment.” He said there have been conversations about working with school systems to increase the vaccination rate in 12- to 17-year-olds but he wants to respect local school districts’ authority.

“We really need to rely on the schools to help us with this,” Schrader said. “They’re autonomous and we want to make sure we respect that autonomy in working with them.”

Lam, a physician, pushed back and said the state is falling short on protecting its kids.

“I am concerned about the spread of COVID in our schools and you have a tool that you can use as the secretary to require this to be required vaccination and students coming into our schools, but it sounds as though [the Department of Health] is not reaching for this tool or is not willing to do so,” he said.

Schrader said the health department’s focus now is increasing the rate for routine vaccinations in elementary school students.

“We want to make sure that those are taken care of, but we’ll go back and take a look at your suggestion,” he said.

After other senators pressed the health department to take more decisive action, Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s) grew frustrated and asked Schrader where the buck stops: with the State Department of Education or with the Department of Health?

“So, we have the adults pointing fingers at each other while the kids are suffering and the parents are suffering,” he said.

Rosapepe told Schrader that he should exercise the power he has to mandate the vaccine in schools.

But, “if for whatever political reason” he decides not to do that, Rosapepe suggested that the Department of Health “aggressively work with the school systems to identify in every school which kids have been vaccinated which kids haven’t been vaccinated” through the state’s ImmuNet vaccination record system and bring mobile vaccination units to those locations.

Rosapepe also proposed rating school systems like the Department of Health rates nursing homes based on their rates of vaccination.

“A couple of suggestions if you’re not willing to go with mandatory vaccinations,” he said.

By Hannah Gaskill

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

Experts Support Mask Mandates for Students but Say Vaccine Mandates Will Be More Difficult

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As many students across Maryland return to school this week while the delta variant continues to drive the state’s COVID-19 case rates higher, requiring masks inside school buildings is the “lowest hanging fruit” schools could take to protect against the coronavirus, public health experts told lawmakers on Monday.

“Children with masks on play just as hard and learn just as well as children without masks, but they’re protected from acquiring COVID and spreading it to others,” Karen L. Kotloff, a professor of pediatrics in the University of Maryland Medical System, told the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

“I think that is the lowest hanging fruit and the easiest intervention that can be done,” she continued. “Masks are easy.”

Meanwhile, other measures such as requiring that students and teachers to get vaccinated or for students to maintain physical distance in classrooms are more difficult, she continued.

Mandating masks is a low-cost way to reduce COVID-19 transmission rates, said Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Monday’s legislative meeting came after the Maryland State Board of Education passed a universal mask mandate for public schools in a hastily-scheduled meeting last week. Previously, the decision to issue masking mandates for students, teachers and staff was left to local school boards in reopening decisions to be approved by Maryland State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury.

By law, the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) has to approve the State Board of Education’s emergency regulation for it to go into effect. The committee is slated to vote on the matter at a public meeting on Sept. 14, allowing some school systems to start the school year without requiring masks.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan (R) has the ability to waive the 10-business-day waiting period required before the AELR committee can vote on the emergency regulation, but Hogan said Monday that he does not plan to do so.

“I’m not going to create a state of emergency to waive the ability for legislators to hear from the citizens, they just have to do the process that they normally do,” Hogan told WBFF-TV.

Republican lawmakers also implored the committee to not rush the 10-day review period to allow for a deliberative process.

“We have serious concerns regarding the State Board of Education’s unprecedented usurpation of local control in mandating masking for students across Maryland,” a statement from the House Minority Caucus said.

During the Monday briefing, Sen. Jason C. Gallion (R-Cecil and Harford) suggested that only children with underlying medical conditions should wear N95s — tight-fitting, high-filtration medical masks — “instead of making all children wear these cloth masks.”

But Kotloff highlighted that healthy children could also contract the coronavirus.

“You don’t have to have an underlying condition to have a fatal COVID infection, and so how do you know which child that’s going to be … to protect that child’s life?” she said. Furthermore, the more a virus passes back and forth among a population, the more a virus can mutate and become more virulent, she continued.

“Pretty much anything that can happen to an adult can happen to a child,” Kotloff said. Longer-term effects of contracting the coronavirus can also afflict children, such as cognitive impairments, fatigue and chronic respiratory issues.

Nationally, the number of children with COVID-19 grew from 26,000 to 200,000 in the last week, according to Kotloff.

Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel) questioned whether it was a good policy to have a “one size fits” approach if different areas in the state have different transmission rates.

But Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George’s) underscored that every county in the state currently has a high or substantial transmission rate of 50-100 or more cases per 100,000.

“When everything is substantial, then I think it makes sense that the policy is fairly uniform,” Sell said. “When things come down, people can make some more of those nuanced decisions at lower levels.”

Mandating Vaccinations?

Montgomery and Prince George’s counties public school systems are requiring teachers and staff to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or to undergo weekly tests.

But mandating vaccines for children will be harder than mandating masks, said Daniel Salmon, the director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. If a vaccine mandate is implemented before it has widespread public support, it risks backlash which can significantly undermine the immunization effort.

However, the bar is different for teachers and staff, he continued. “That’s a workplace mandate, which is different. And teachers get to choose whether or not they want to be teachers and where they work and it’s an occupational hazard, so I think it’s a lower bar,” he said.

When people feel forced to get inoculated, “that’s frightening for people,” Kotloff said. Allowing people to express their fears about the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as informing them of the science is the best way to move forward, she continued.

By Elizabeth Shwe

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Md. School Board OKs Mask Mandate for Public Schools

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Public school students across Maryland must wear masks inside schools.

The Maryland State Board of Education gave overwhelming approval to an emergency regulation requiring masks during a special Thursday afternoon meeting.

The decision comes less than a week before many K-12 students return to school and as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, positivity rates, and transmission rates have been climbing in Maryland, largely due to the delta variant.

Board members said it is important for students to be in school and requiring masks will ensure fewer students miss days due to illness.

Clarence C. Crawford, president of the state school board, said in-person instruction is better for students than the virtual instruction used for much of the past school year.

The emergency regulation now goes to a legislative committee for review and approval. Emergency regulations expire 180 days after being filed with the committee.

State School Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury’s memo to the state school board, including the text of the proposed regulation, is below.

MdSchoolsMaskRegulation

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Md. School Board to Vote Today on Requiring Masks; Franchot, State Senators Back Statewide Mandate

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The Maryland State Board of Education will hold a meeting this afternoon to determine if students will be required to wear masks during the 2021-2022 academic year as the delta variant continues to drive the state’s COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates higher.

​​“I believe that having an in-school mask mandate is going to help us to meet our goal of having students stay in classrooms and minimize the disruption that will be caused by quarantines,” said Rachel McCusker, the teacher representative of the Maryland State Board of Education, at the end of a marathon meeting held Tuesday.

The board voted unanimously to meet at 3 p.m. today to discuss the matter further.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudury said that he was looking to see if he had legal backing to deny school systems’ COVID-19 plans if they follow all of the State Department of Education and Department of Health recommendations except for universal masking.

“I have been very clear, all school systems should start the school year with masking,” Choudury said early during the eight-hour meeting Tuesday.

Thus far, each jurisdiction has been tasked with deciding its own school reopening plan, which must be approved by Choudury.

To assuage public concern, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) on Monday tweeted a map created by the Department of Legislative Services detailing masking and vaccine mandates by school district.

According to the map, which was last updated Tuesday, 14 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions plan to require students to wear masks. On Wednesday night, Cecil County Superintendent of Schools Jeff Lawson announced that the school district would require masks for students and staff at the beginning of the school year.

State senators sent a letter Wednesday to the Maryland State Board of Education, imploring board members to issue an emergency regulation requiring a universal masking mandate for students and teachers across the state.

“Continuous in-person instruction this school year is critical, and we must protect students’ ability to learn with other children in school buildings statewide throughout the year,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said in a statement. “We urge the State Board of Education to promulgate a temporary emergency regulation mandating that all children, faculty, and staff wear masks in every Maryland elementary and secondary school and congregate setting with children in any county with a substantial or high rate of COVID-19 transmission, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Should the board decide to issue the masking requirement for students and staff across the state, the emergency regulation would need to be approved by the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR). The committee is led by Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D-Anne Arundel) and Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City).

Because of its emergency status, the masking mandate would only be in effect for 180 days before its expiration.

With Cecil County now requiring masks, only four of Maryland’s 24 school systems have chosen to keep masking optional. Several of those jurisdictions have some of the state’s highest rates of COVID-19 transmission. And three of the four — Dorchester, Somerset, Worcester — are on the Eastern Shore.

Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), a candidate for governor in 2022, issued a statement Thursday morning saying he also favored a mask mandate for public schools.

“Like so many Marylanders, I’m greatly concerned about the surge of COVID-19 cases in our state and across the country,” he said in the statement. “This surge comes as families are preparing to send their kids back to school — with great uncertainty on how the Delta variant will impact the health and welfare of students, teachers and staff. The COVID infection rate among children is the highest it’s ever been.

“That’s why I support a statewide mask mandate for schools, mandatory vaccinations for school employees, and daily testing for school employees who have religious or health exemptions,” Franchot said. “Additionally, I call on the state to work with local governments and school systems to ensure that all eligible children, educators and staff have convenient access to vaccines. School systems must also provide parents with the flexibility to decide the mode of learning that’s best for their children, whether it’s in-person, hybrid or virtual.

“Our collective fight against this pandemic that has killed nearly 10,000 Marylanders and infected more than 489,000 of our friends and neighbors is far from over. When it comes to the health and welfare of our children, we can’t take enough precautions to ensure that they are able to safely learn,” he said. “What’s more, these necessary health precautions aren’t just for our students, but also for our educators and staff. They and their loved ones deserve the certainty of knowing they won’t be jeopardizing their health to do the job they love.”

Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. (D) declared a state of emergency there Tuesday morning in an effort to help the county request and procure aid and resources from the state and federal government.

Per a Tuesday news release from Olszewski’s office, the Baltimore County Council will hold a voting session next week to determine if the county should remain under the state of emergency beyond August.

“While we’ve made undeniable progress in our fight against this deadly virus, the rapid emergence of the Delta variant has made it clear that we need access to every tool in our toolbox to be able to respond to it,” Olszewski said in a statement. “We remain committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep our residents as safe as possible and to ensure that when our children go back to school next week they can remain where they belong: inside the classroom.”

“We want to keep our kids in class and keep our schools open,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman (D) said in support of County Superintendent George Arlotto’s decision to mandate that students and teachers mask up. “That’s the reason that we have the mask requirement.”

Robert Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said discussions regarding vaccine requirements for teachers are underway. Pittman issued a vaccine mandate for county employees earlier this month.

According to Anne Arundel Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the county has 55 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Anne Arundel Medical Center and University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center. He also reported that six people died of COVID-19-related causes in Anne Arundel County in the past week — “the most deaths we’ve had in three months.”

Asked what it would take for him to institute a county-wide mask mandate, Pittman said that he would need to reinstate a local state of emergency, but he doesn’t have enough support from the County Council to do so.

“We don’t have the authorization,” Pittman said. “We had it under the governor’s emergency order and we had it under the county’s emergency declaration … but that we no longer have.”

Pittman said that, to reinstate the county’s state of emergency, five of seven Anne Arundel County councilmembers would have to support it. He said that three county council members “have opposed every mandate that we’ve put into effect.”

“So we don’t believe that we have the votes on the council to do that,” he said.

By Hannah Gaskill and Bruce DePuyt

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

Most Mid-Shore Students Must Mask Inside Schools

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Most Mid-Shore public school students will be required to wear masks inside when classes begin for the coming school year.

Four of the region’s five school systems have largely adopted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control that recommends universal indoor masking, regardless of vaccination status, for anyone age 2 and older who enters a school.

Dorchester County Public Schools has not issued a mask requirement for students, but is encouraging unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings.

A federal mandate requires masks on all bus transportation nationwide, so all students will be required to wear masks while riding a school bus.

CDC guidance for schools includes:

  • Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority.
  • Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
  • Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
  • In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as screening testing.
  • Screening testing, ventilation, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, staying home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
  • Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
  • Many schools serve children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination at this time. Therefore, this guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (e.g., using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, and other members of their households and support in-person learning.
  • Localities should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on the level of layered prevention strategies (e.g., physical distancing, screening testing).

The CDC’s Covid Data Tracker shows that community transmission levels currently are high in all 5 Mid-Shore counties, for Maryland as a whole, and across the United States.

Kent County:

Kent County Public Schools will require face coverings for all students, staff, and visitors inside school buildings and the central office.

“The masking requirement for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff will preserve our ability to continue in-person instruction and help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our schools,” Superintendent Karen M. Couch wrote in a statement.

Other key mitigation strategies include:

  • Promote frequent hand washing and hygiene.
  • Enhanced cleaning protocols.
  • Social distancing of 3 ft. whenever possible.
  • Self-screening for COVID-19.
  • Contact tracing and quarantining.

Couch said the school system “encourages all eligible persons to get fully vaccinated to protect yourself and those around you.”

Talbot County:

The county’s level of community transmission has been high since Aug. 6.

In an Aug. 17 statement, Superintendent Kelly Griffith said school districts had “received updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maryland Department of Health (MDH), and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)” and recommendations from the Talbot County health officer in developing its layered prevention strategies.

Those strategies, effective immediately, are:

  • Requiring universal indoor masking for individuals age 2 years and older, including students/children, teachers, staff and visitors, regardless of vaccination status.
  • Promoting vaccination among teachers, staff and students.
  • Maintaining physical distancing of three feet to the extent possible without excluding students from in-person learning.
  • Offering rapid COVID-19 testing in schools if needed.
  • Maintaining adequate ventilation of all buildings to support air quality
  • Following health department guidance regarding contact tracing, isolation and quarantine for staff or students who are sick, have COVID-19 symptoms, are exposed to someone with COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 according to the Talbot County Health Department Quarantine Policy .

“While this is not the way we hoped to be starting the school year, we will continue to monitor the situation on a weekly basis and will make revisions accordingly,” Griffith wrote. “The good news is that we have 88% of our staff and almost 50% of our 12 -17 year-olds vaccinated so we remain encouraged and hopeful about a healthy and productive school year.”

Dorchester County:

Dorchester County Public Schools recommends unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks inside school facilities.

In an Aug. 3 statement, Superintendent W. David Bromwell and Dorchester County Health Officer Roger Harrell said:

“Masking continues to be the most talked about subject as we enter the 2021-2022 school year. Dorchester County has become a High-Rate transmission county in Maryland, almost overnight.

“DCPS will do everything possible to keep our students and staff safe while attending school. It is possible that an individual DCPS school will be required to ‘Mask Up’ if infection rates and COVID transmissions are increasing within a building.”

The school system and the health department had reviewed the latest guidance from the CDC and the federal education department, and the county’s COVID-19 statistics, according to the statement. As a result, Dorchester schools will encourage the following:

  • Follow Federal mandate of masking on all bus transportation throughout the county
  • Unvaccinated students and staff to wear masks in all facilities
  • Those who are eligible to receive a vaccination
  • Ask staff and families to pre-screen for symptoms of illness daily
  • Hand washing throughout the day, especially before and after meals
  • Individual materials of instruction (no sharing of supplies)
  • When possible, always use social distancing of a minimum of 3 feet within DCPS buildings
  • Implement a high level of cleaning, especially high touch areas in schools and busses

County schools also will continue to provide the following:

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including hand sanitizer to students and staff
  • Ongoing professional development to staff, families, and students involving COVID 19 and its variants
  • MERV rated filters throughout DCPS HVAC systems
  • COVID screening for students and staff whenever possible
  • Multiple vaccination opportunities for staff and eligible students leading up to the 2021-2022 school year

Caroline County:

“Masks are now required for all individuals inside Caroline County Public Schools buildings, regardless of vaccination status, when students are present,” Caroline County Public Schools said in an Aug. 17 post on its website.

“We are laser focused on our primary goal of keeping the school doors open five full days a week for in-person learning for all students,” Interim Superintendent Derek Simmons told the school board in an Aug. 17 special meeting.

“Given the current circumstances, we have a much better chance of meeting that goal if everyone is wearing a mask while indoors.”

According to the post, the decision was based on several important factors:

  • Children 11 and younger are not yet eligible for the vaccine, and significant numbers of students 12 and older remain unvaccinated.
  • The Delta variant spreads more easily than previous variants, and can be spread by vaccinated individuals. Throughout the summer, the number of young people contracting the virus has increased.
  • According to CDC’s data tracker, Caroline County has been in the substantial or high range for community transmission since early August.
  • Based on CDC contact tracing guidance, if an unmasked student tests positive, nearby students must quarantine, even if they were wearing masks. However, if both the positive case and the contacts are masked, the contacts may stay in school.
  • The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Caroline County Health Department all recommend a mask requirement for student and staff safety, and as a way to enable schools to remain open.
  • The Draft Reopening Plan Survey comments indicated that while some respondents wanted masks to remain a choice, a majority felt strongly that masks should be required.

Board President Jim Newcomb urged older students, “If you are comfortable with being vaccinated, be a leader in your school and get the vaccine. This is the only way under these conditions to get your life and your friends’ lives as close to normal as possible.”

Queen Anne’s County:

“Approved face coverings must be worn in all QACPS buildings,” the school system said in an Aug. 23 post on its website.

In a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), the school system said not requiring masks would result in a larger number of students being quarantined and absent from school if an unmasked student tests positive for COVID-19.

“If a student were to choose not to wear a face covering and tests positive for COVID-19, the unvaccinated students around that child (masked or unmasked) are then required to be quarantined.

“However, if all students have face coverings and at least socially distant in the classroom, only the child testing positive would miss school days.

“There may be other settings such as the bus or the cafeteria where social distancing cannot be maintained.

“Our best chance at keeping classrooms and schools safe and open is to require everyone to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing whenever possible.”

Quarantining

Diagrams from Caroline and Queen Anne’s county schools highlight the effectiveness of masks in limiting the number of students who must quarantine if a student tests positive for COVID-19.

With 3-foot spacing and all students wearing masks, only the student testing positive for COVID-19 would have to quarantine in three classroom seating diagrams, according to Caroline schools.

Without masks, 6 to 8 other students sitting near the student who tested positive also would have to quarantine and miss school. Those students would be considered close contacts at high risk of getting COVID-19.

A diagram from Queen Anne’s schools notes the differences between old and current quarantine guidelines.

The previous guidelines would have required mass student quarantine if one student tested positive.

Under the current guidelines, with everyone masked and remaining three feet apart, the student who tested positive would have to quarantine. Those within close proximity would only have to quarantine if they had symptoms.

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

With Blunt Warning for Vaccine Holdouts, Hogan Imposes New Policy For State Workers

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Faced with a dominant COVID-19 strain, the delta variant, that is more contagious — and poses more of a potential health threat — than the original, state and local political leaders from around Maryland took steps on Thursday to stem the tide of infection.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced that, come September, employees who work in state-run congregate facilities will be required to show proof of vaccination. Those who refuse will be required to wear face coverings and provide regular negative coronavirus test results.

His vaccination policy came amid a flurry of new mask orders in jurisdictions covering nearly half the state’s population.

The state “protocol” will apply to workers at 48 facilities run by four agencies — the Departments of Health, Juvenile Services, Public Safety and Correctional Services, and Veterans Affairs.

State employees in these facilities will need to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September 1.

Anyone attempting to provide false proof of vaccination will be subject to disciplinary action, the governor said.

Hogan and top health officials used the occasion to issue some of their bluntest warnings to date to those who fail to take proven precautions.

“If you don’t get a vaccine and you don’t wear a mask, you’re going to get COVID-19,” said Hogan, speaking at a State House news conference.

His message was reinforced by Dr. Ted Delbridge, head of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS).

“The unfortunate reality is: If you are not vaccinated, it’s not a matter of if you get COVID-19, it’s only a matter of when,” Delbridge said. “Despite the very best medical care, people will continue to die.”

The MIEMSS chief, who has practiced emergency medicine for nearly 30 years, urged Marylanders who are not vaccinated to “play it safe, wear a mask.”

The same recommendation, he said, applies to people who find themselves among those whose vaccination status is unknown.

AFSCME Council 3, which represents the majority of union workers at the four agencies, said in a statement that it welcomes “proactive steps for health and safety at our worksites,” but it called for a “more holistic approach.”

The statement noted that employees covered by the vaccine order have been denied pandemic-related increases in pay.

“The Hogan Administration needs to ensure that all employees who are working where enhanced safety measures are mandated receive the Hazard/Response pay that they deserve,” AFSCME official Stuart Katzenberg said.

“Thousands of State employees who put themselves at risk daily, including those in the congregant care facilities, continue to be denied enhanced compensation despite the clear and present danger.”

Hogan defended his approach. He said nursing home workers “are at a very low vaccination rate compared to the state. That’s a big concern.”

He also urged operators of private nursing homes to institute similar vaccination requirements, lest state health officials take further action.

Several jurisdictions reimpose indoor mask orders

The governor stopped short of reinstating a statewide mask order.

“These are the actions that we feel are appropriate today, given the facts and the data where it stands,” he said. “We watch it every single day and we’ll take whatever additional actions we believe are necessary when we believe they’re necessary.”

But several large jurisdictions did impose mask mandates on Thursday. They cited new evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that vaccinated individuals who are asymptomatic are capable of transmitting the virus to others at alarming rates.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) announced that masks will be required in indoor public areas effective at 9 a.m. on Monday. The order applies to everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, who issued the order, said the decision to require masks was driven by a 374% increase in infections over the last four weeks, as well as a spike in Baltimore’s positive test rate during that time.

Masks “will help to limit further increase in cases,” she said.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) announced that masks will be required in all indoor public venues effective on Sunday at 5 p.m.

The requirement will apply to everyone over the age of 5, regardless of vaccination status.

“After consulting with health officials who are monitoring our COVID-19 metrics daily, we have been advised that we are now at a point where we must reinstitute an indoor public mask mandate to keep Prince Georgians safe,” Alsobrooks said in a statement.

“The spread of the new Delta variant shows that we can only get out of this pandemic by getting more people vaccinated. If you have not been vaccinated, please do so as soon as possible, not only to protect you and your loved ones, but also to prevent us from sliding back further in our recovery.”

Alsobrooks is in the process of drafting a requirement for employees who work in a county government office to get vaccinated or provide regular proof that they are COVID-negative.

The Montgomery County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, voted Thursday to impose an indoor mask mandate effect on Saturday.

That order will remain in effect as long as the county is a “substantial” transmission area.  As defined by the CDC that designation kicks in after seven consecutive days of from 50 to 100 new cases for every 100,000 residents or a positive test rate from 8% to 10%.

An update County Executive Marc B. Elrich’s office sent to county residents Thursday night stated that recent CDC statistics showed Montgomery’s transmission rate averaged 57.6 per 100,000 and its positive test rate averaged 2.6%.

“While Montgomery County continues to lead the nation on vaccination rates, we have a segment of our population who are not yet eligible for the protection that the vaccine provides and others who are not vaccinated,” said Council President Tom Hucker (D).

“With unvaccinated COVID-19 victims accounting for 99 percent of recent deaths, I urge everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect yourself, your loved ones and our community.”

The Montgomery mask mandate provides an exemption for people who are eating or drinking, those receiving dental care, people engaged in public speaking and live performances, and those who are swimming and doing other forms of physical activity.

The Council ordered Elrich (D) to craft a plan to require all employees who work at a county facility to be vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test each week.

By Bruce DePuyt

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