Crackdown on indoor, outdoor dining
Pittman’s sweeping new restrictions go from next Wednesday through Jan. 13
Anne Arundel County is halting indoor and outdoor dining for four weeks starting Wednesday at 5 p.m. untilWednesday, Jan. 13, County Executive Steuart Pittman announced Thursday. Retail stores, fitness centers, casinos, nail and hair salons will have tighter restrictions by scaling back to 25% capacity.
Coronavirus is significantly more rampant in the community than it was this spring when the county first imposed similar restrictions on restaurants, bars and other indoor businesses. The goal was to keep people in quarantine long enough to lower the case rate, so when people finally gathered, there was a less likely chance of spreading the virus.
Eight months later, cases are skyrocketing and hospitals are poised to overflow with regular and COVID-19 patients without interventions, Pittman said. If the
number of people admitted to county and state hospitals drops over the next four weeks, some restrictions could be rolled back. If not, they will continue in order to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed and forced to delay care for regular patients.
“I’m sorry to bring you this kind of news, but I’m heartened that somany ofus believe that this is what we need to do,” Pittman said. “We need to push these numbers down; we need to protect our health care system. And at the end of the day, we’re going to look back on this time. And we’re going toask ourselves if therewasmore that we could have done to save lives.”
The restrictions start in a week to give businesses time to adjust to the change, Pittman said.
The announcement came at the start of Hanukkah. As part of the health order, religious facilities can operate at 33% of their normal capacity and hold services outside at a distance in better ventilation for
up to 250 people. Religious facilities were already operating at around one-third of their capacity, Pittman said.
All organized sports and practices, including private schools or in school and church gyms, are suspended. Indoor theaters, performance venues, bingo, bowling alleys, pool halls, roller rinks, and indoor ice rinks will be closed. County-implemented restrictions remain in place on indoor gatherings, with a limit of 10 people, and outdoor gatherings limited to 25 people.
Gyms cannot have group fitness activities, and casinos can not serve food or alcohol except for curbside takeout. Addiction recovery groups can operate at 25% capacity or up to 50 people.
Anne Arundel County reached its highest rate of 48 positive cases for every 100,000 residents, and the highest singleday case total since the pandemic emerged inMarch with 341 new infections reported Thursday. On average, 276 people tested positive for the virus each day in a week. Since March, 297 county residents have died.
Maryland saw its second-highest case rate Thursday, twoweeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials warned could lead to a spike in new cases. More people are hospitalized for COVID-19 in Maryland as of Thursday than at any point previously in the pandemic. The state reported 1,720 people hospitalized with virus-related complications Thursday.
There are 132 people being treated for COVID-19 at Anne Arundel County’s primary hospitals, Anne Arundel Medical Center and University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Thirty patients are in the ICU.
“Our hospital and our key practices are open, safe and prepared to care for you,” saidDr. NeelVibhakar, chiefmedical officer at BWMC. “We still have a very small windowof opportunity to turn this around. But working together, Anne Arundel County has provenwe can flatten the curve and save lives. I believe it’s time to do it again.”
Pittman’s announcement is part of a united effort by Maryland’s most populous counties and Baltimore City.
Baltimore City closed indoor and outdoor dining Tuesday. Prince George’s County also cut indoor dining Thursday and is allowing outdoor dining at 50% capacity. The number of people that fill a certain business’ capacity threshold ranges widely depending on available space. The airborne virus is more transmissible in confined spaces.
Restaurants and bars have been a source of spread since the beginning of the pandemic as people gather inside tight quarters and remove masks to eat and drink. The health goal is to lower the case rate by cutting off hot spots for transmission. Once the case rate is lower, and the virus is less present, people can take hesitant steps toward resuming some activities.
Joined by hospital leaders at AAMC and BWMC, Pittman has said his decisions are centered around health care professionals’ recommendations and various other advisers.
James Appel, chairman of the Anne
Arundel County Republican Central Committee, said he believed the additional restrictions to be “arbitrary and political” and doctors are better at treating the disease than theywere this spring.
“(I’m) certainly very disappointed and concerned for all the businesses in Anne Arundel County that it will affect,” he said.
Vaccines are available as early as next week for frontline healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients and elderly residents and staff in long-term care facilities, as they are the most at risk of contracting or dying fromthe virus. It could be months before the public has access to vaccinations. Vaccines given by the county will be free.
Until then, residents need to avoid contracting the virus. The county’s current case rate is so high that contact tracers can no longer break the train of transmission by identifying exposed people and telling them to quarantine. Contact tracers will now focus on fewer contacts and primarily people at the highest risk of becoming severely ill.
Gov. LarryHogan addressed the financial hardships business owners are facing Thursday by announcing an assistance package that includes emergency tax relief for small businesses and forgiveness of $75 million in emergency loans. Despite calls for a unified response to the fall surge from county executives inMaryland’s sevenmost populous counties and Baltimore’s mayor, Hogan did not announce new statewide restrictions.
The retail and hospitality industry has been financially devastated by the pandemic.
Maryland added 9,100 jobs in leisure and hospitality in October, but the industry is still down 14% year over year, according to the Federal Reserve. Nationally, employment in leisure and hospitality is down about 20% in November. Baltimore businesses that invested in expensive heaters and outdoor dining equipment ahead of winter expressed how the new restriction will cause another blowto their finances.
Restaurant owners are scared about the “devastating” 25% capacity requirement during the slowwinter season, saidMonica Alvarado, owner of Bread and Butter Kitchen, but they’re also more prepared to weather this shutdown than in the spring. Alvarado leads Feed Anne Arundel, a charitable organization that keeps restaurants in business and their workers employed by paying them to make hot meals for families in need. Those meals are handed out at food distribution centers across the county.
Pittman allocated $1 million to the Feed Anne Arundel partnership of local restaurants and businesses on Thursday. Alvarado said the requests to join the group flooded her inbox soon after.
“This is more of a jobs movement than a foodmovement. We’re feeding the community, which is awesome, but we’re also keeping our restaurants open, and that’s the key for us, is to really make sure that we’re still competitive, and we’re still going to be able to be here after this is over,” Alvarado said.
Restaurants that are part of a CARES Act and the state-funded $10 million “Restaurant and Food Service Grant Program” will receive an additional $7,000. Food venues can continue to offer curbside pickup and takeout. The county will not collect annual restaurant fees this year.