By Norma Sorto
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan announced Wednesday that Prince George’s and Montgomery counties will soon get an experimental vaccine for the COVID-19, and boasted that expanded testing and increased hospital capacity could lead to a gradual reopening of the state by next week.
“But it is thanks to all of you and your incredible sacrifices that we are making great progress,” Hogan said at a press conference. “We are indeed flattening the curve and we are preparing to launch our reopening plan in order to safely get people back to work, to safely get our small businesses back open again, to get our economy back on track, so that Maryland, and our nation, can defeat this virus and come back stronger and better than ever.”
Hogan said that Gilead has donated 1,600 doses of remdesivir to Maryland. Explaining that the drug is the only drug proven in a clinical study to help treat COVID-19, Hogan said the initial doses will be immediately deploy to Prince George’s and Montgomery counties where there are the highest cases.
In other signs of improvements across the state, Hogan said he has directed the Maryland Department of Health to issue guidance that allows hospitals and licensed health care providers to resume elective and non-urgent medical procedures. And, he said he has amended his Stay-at-Home order to broaden the list of permitted outdoor activities to now include individual and small group sports such as golfing, tennis, and outdoor fitness instruction.
Hogan announced successes in the four building blocks that would allow the state to gradually reopen businesses and services. For example, he said Maryland has:
- Expanded testing capacity to cover outbreaks and hotspots, including universal testing for nursing home residents and staff and workers at Maryland’s two poultry processing plants.
- Exceeded its original surge capacity goal of an additional 6,000 beds. Currently, 8,100 surge beds, including 2,400 ICU beds, are available across the state.
- Acquired 4.5 million KN95 masks, 600,000 N95 masks, 150,000 medical gowns, 1.1 million face shields, and 3.5 million surgical gloves.
- Executed a contract with the national Opinion Research Center to quadruple the state’s disease investigation capacity.
Hogan added that hospitalizations are decreasing with five straight days downward. Overall, the numbers are down compared to a week ago, he said.
“If these trends continue into next week,” Hogan said, “we will be ready to lift the stay-at-home order and to begin Stage 1 of our recovery plan.”
The plan is to reopen certain types of businesses and lower risk community religious and quality of life activities, he said.
2 Comments
Thwy should not open our xity yet
I can’t wait to feel safe enough to drive around a bit. I have been in place for 33 days. Out once to Wal-Mart. I don’t go out but once every 2 wks anyway.