Governor Hogan announced today that effective 5 pm, tomorrow, Wednesday November 11, indoor dining capacity at restaurants across the State will drop from 75% to 50%. Restrictions limiting parties to no more than 6, prohibiting standing in bars and requiring all patrons to be seated remain in place.
The Governor also announced a new Maryland Department of Health advisory strongly warning against indoor gatherings of 25 or more and strongly advised against out of state travel. The travel advisory applies to the 8 states with positivity rates above 10% and the 35 states with average cases above 20 per 100,000.
Health Advisory – Limitations on Gatherings
Travel Advisory
During the press conference, the Governor commented that we are now seeing widespread transmission across the State with 7 straight days of more than 1,000 cases. Maryland’s positivity rate has increased to over 5% for the first time in 137 days and is now at 5.24%. Maryland has also moved into the red zone with the number of cases per 100,000 at 19.8, an increase of 36% in the past 7 days.
The Governor said he doesn’t want to take actions to shut down our economy, but these patterns can’t be ignored.
In addition to the restrictions on indoor dining and the advisories, the Governor has reinstituted required telework for state employees and issued further guidance for nursing homes.
As with prior announcements and executive orders, local jurisdictions can impose more strict requirements if felt to be necessary. See recent orders from Baltimore City and Montgomery County.
Governor’s Press Release
Watch today’s press conference.
View the slides from today’s press conference.
