Scott keeps strict COVID-19 restrictions in place
Complaint alleged that Baltimore City, three counties discriminated in rollout
Mayor Brandon Scott enacted an order Friday to keep in place Baltimore’s COVID-19 restrictions — deviating from Gov. Larry Hogan’s directive that lifted most capacity restrictions aimed at curbing the virus’ spread, a mandate accepted by the counties surrounding the city.
Baltimore restaurants and bars will continue to seat patrons at 50% capacity outdoors and 25% indoors, per Scott’s executive order, which went into effect at 6 a.m. Meanwhile, retailers, fitness centers, libraries, museums, casinos, barber shops and salons, as well as theaters and outdoor entertainment venues, can entertain a quarter of their maximum volume of customers.
Flanked by Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa and other public health experts at a news conference near City Hall, Scott said his administration would continue to follow the science and would not change course based on the decisions of Hogan and neighboring county leaders. He quoted Democratic President Joe Biden’s address Thursday night in saying: “‘This fight is far from over.’ ”
Scott emphasized the coronavirus’ impact on Baltimore in 2021: 9,371 cases and 172 deaths. In all, COVID-19 has infected 41,262 city residents and killed 810 more since officials began to track the disease last March. While Scott is encouraged by recent metrics, he maintained the picture was hardly rosy.
“Our nation and our city is still very much in the midst of this pandemic,” Scott said.
Dzirasa cited “public health indicators,” including a plateau of new daily coronavirus infections in the city, and the city’s comparatively low vaccination rate as reasons to keep the restrictions.
As of Thursday, Baltimore’s testing positivity rate was below the state average, but its seven-day average of 19.3 infections per 100,000 people was well above the state’s 13.7, state health department data showed. Baltimore averaged more than 93.1 new infections daily over the last week, according Baltimore City Health Department data. Intensive care and acute care at city’s 11 hospitals were 84% and 87% full, respectively.
Only about 9.4% of Baltimore residents have been completely vaccinated, the fourth-lowest proportion in Maryland, according to state health data.
Dzirasa and Scott said they’d reconsider the current measures March 22, four weeks after they instituted them.
Scott had already offered his blessing to the Baltimore Orioles’ announcement Friday that the team will limit the admission of fans to 25% of the capacity of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, starting with its home opener next month. That’s a maximum of about 11,000 fans per game.
But Camden Yards is just one many Baltimore landmarks — including restaurants, museums and casinos — that attract visitors from around the state.
“If Baltimore were to open up, you all are a destination. Just imagine all the people who would influx into Baltimore who haven’t been vaccinated, who could be bringing virus in,” said Dr. Brian Castrucci, president and CEO of the Bethesda-based de Beaumont Foundation, a public health-focused charitable organization. “Do you want all the people from the state driving in to go to the aquarium this weekend?”
Workers who staff those attractions are at greater risk of contracting the virus, and increasing the odds of virus transmission when the state’s vaccination campaign has the potential to soon reach many more Marylanders is irresponsible, Castrucci said. “[Scott’s] job is to protect the people of Baltimore and he’s sure as heck doing it.”
Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties heeded Hogan’s call Tuesday to fall in line with his latest order, which eased at 5 p.m. Friday many restrictions designed to curb the virus’ spread. Citing declines in key coronavirus metrics, the Republican governor lifted capacity limits on restaurants, bars and most other businesses statewide, while allowing large venues to reopen at half capacity.
Baltimore City joined Montgomery and Prince George’s counties as among the few local jurisdictions that defied Hogan.
Hogan’s order sent most local leaders scrambling to consult with attorneys because it scrapped language in previous editions that allowed localities to institute stricter rules.
After several days of confusion, the state attorney general’s office confirmed Thursday night that the change rendered local orders that cited Hogan’s previous orders “null and void.” However, Frosh said, localities had other powers to regulate public health matters.
In Baltimore, the task of analyzing the effect of Hogan’s order landed on City Solicitor Jim Shea, whom Scott swore in to office Wednesday. Shea said Hogan’s mandate created “confusion, but not any barrier to the mayor’s renewed executive order.”
To legally move forward with Scott’s desire to keep in place the existing restrictions, Shea found the mayor needed to sign the new executive order. That’s because the city’s previous rendition “invoked joint authority” from Hogan’s order and local laws, Shea said.
Hogan’s order added a clause that prohibited local regulations inconsistent with the governor’s mandates, but that wasn’t a problem for Baltimore because the purpose of Scott’s order mirrors Hogan’s: “to prevent the spread of COVID,” Shea said.
Shea said Scott’s new order draws authority from the city’s emergency powers derived from the Maryland Public Safety Act, the Baltimore City Emergency Operations Plan, the city’s health code and the state’s Code of Maryland Regulations.
Some Baltimore restaurateurs were unhappy to learn of Scott maintaining stricter limits on their businesses.
Even with no limit on capacity, thanks to Hogan’s order being in effect in Baltimore County, Jackie McCusker’s Nacho Mama’s restaurant in Towson will operate at about 50% to accommodate for the still-required social distancing.
Still, that’s better than the conditions for her restaurants in the city, Nacho Mama’s and Mama’s On The Half Shell in Canton, the former temporarily closed because of dining restrictions.
“The difference between 25% and 50%, it’s pretty substantial,” McCusker said.
Scott said he had to prioritize his city’s health over the economic impact of more restrictive measures.
Considering imminent St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and the city’s hospitals approaching capacity, Scott urged Baltimore residents to avoid crowds, wear masks and practice physical distancing. Otherwise, he warned of a potential post post-holiday virus surge.
“It’s not the time to go barhopping,” Scott said.
“We were concerned that if we continued to wait and hope that things would change, we might not get it changed fast enough to save lives.”
The Arc Maryland, an organization that advocates for and supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has dismissed a lawsuit against Baltimore City and Garrett, Queen Anne’s and Somerset counties after alleging earlier this week that they and two other counties were providing unequal access to COVID19 vaccines.
The group and its attorneys filed the lawsuit in federal court against those counties, as well as Carroll and Talbot counties, late Monday evening.
The complaint alleged that the six jurisdictions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not explicitly including people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their online vaccine priority lists, even though they qualify for immunizations in the current distribution phase per Maryland executive order.
The Arc said the counties took immediate actions to satisfy the complaint, “working expeditiously and in good will.”
“Actions taken ... include correcting information on websites that omitted people with [intellectual and developmental disabilities] from among those listed as eligible for vaccination in Phase 1B; posting a liaison for people with disabilities to contact for assistance; instructing staff as to the eligibility of people with [intellectual and developmental disabilities]; and adding people with [intellectual and developmental disabilities] to interest lists.”
The suit remains against Carroll and Talbot counties.
Ande Kolp, executive director of The Arc Maryland, said in a interview Tuesday that the failure to include accurate priority guidance language on the websites adds another burden to an already cumbersome registration process, which is inherently difficult to navigate for people with disabilities.
“We’re not asking for special clinics, just equitable access along with other people in [Phase] 1B,” Kolp said. “We were concerned that if we continued to wait and hope that things would change, we might not get it changed fast enough to save lives.”
Statewide, Marylanders with intellectual and developmental disabilities were prioritized to receive COVID-19 immunizations in the state’s rollout as of Jan. 18.
But with a national vaccine supply shortage and a decentralized, online booking system, many Marylanders — especially older adults, people without computers and those lacking digital skills — have struggled to secure appointments.
There are at least 17,764 Marylanders with disabilities who rely on state services, according to the Maryland Developmental Disability Administration, and many of them could be at higher risk of contracting severe illness due to COVID-19.
As many as 1,853, or 9%, have tested positive for the disease caused by the virus, according to the agency’s figures.
At least 92 of those patients have died as a result.
The true number of Marylanders with disabilities is likely much higher, as the majority are not provided for by the formal service system.
Kolp said it could be as many as 93,000 individuals, many of whom lack access to transportation and technology.
The state has asked at least 18 CVS pharmacies, in partnership with the federal government, to prioritize Marylanders
with intellectual and developmental disabilities — along with older adults and educators — for vaccination appointments.
The Maryland Department of Health also tasked local health departments with vaccinating at least one assisted living facility and at least one residential setting for Marylanders with disabilities each week to help the community access the immunizations.
Local health department leaders also said they were working on vaccinating the community, even if their websites were misleading. Ed Singer, Carroll County’s health officer, said the department had been inoculating people with disabilities from the start.
“This could’ve easily been resolved with a telephone call,” Singer said Monday.
He did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Ande Kolp, executive director of The Arc Maryland