By Jordan Smith
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan announced the reopening of the Laurel Medical Center on Wednesday, stressing that adding the 135 beds for COVID-19 patients is a step that Maryland needs to take to prepare to reopen.
Hogan, a Republican, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, stood at a podium near the facility, which Hogan said is part of the state’s COVID-19 hospital surge plan. He also announced an expansive contract tracing initiative that should track up to 1,000 cases per day.
Prince George’s County has the highest concentration of coronavirus cases in Maryland with more than 3,800 confirmed cases. Maryland has 14,775 confirmed cases, and more than 631 Marylanders have lost their lives to the virus in the past 35 days, officials said.
Alsobrooks noted that 152 of the state’s deaths from the coronavirus have been in Prince George’s County.
“These are not cases. These are people,” said Alsobrooks.
The renovated and reconfigured medical center will be staffed by more than 400 medical professionals and managed by the University of Maryland Medical System, Hogan said. Of the additional 135 beds, 35 intensive care beds will be for patients infected with COVID-19.
“Over the years, this facility helped save many lives before it was downsized and downgraded,” Hogan said. “But now with its rebirth, it is once again going to help us save lives, not just here in Prince George’s County, but throughout the National Capital Region.”
Hogan said that the most critical part of Maryland’s recovery plan and the reopening guidelines recently released by the White House is expanding testing capacity. Expanding testing capacity will be implemented first, while increasing hospital surge capacity will be second, he said. The third step will be increasing the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), and a robust contact tracing operation will be the final course of action.
Early Wednesday, Hogan announced that he had authorized a contract with the National Opinion Research Center (NCRC), which is the nation’s oldest and largest university-based research firm operated by the University of Chicago with corporate offices in Bethesda. The agreement will quadruple the state’s present disease investigation capability, he said.
On Monday, Hogan announced Maryland had acquired 500,000 LabGun COVID-19 PCR test kits from LabGenomics, a South Korean company.
On Friday, Hogan said he will announce his Road to Recovery Plan and the steps Maryland will need to take to prepare to open. The plan was developed in consultation with the Coronavirus Response Team.
“With these crucial components now firmly in place, on Friday we will be introducing our ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery,’ which will lead us safely out of this pandemic and into a brighter, more hopeful future,” Hogan said.