By Yuchabel Sanon
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan once again called on Congress to pass a stimulus package to help small businesses and struggling families suffering through the coronavirus pandemic.
Hogan said during a press conference Tuesday that the country cannot wait for a new president and Congress to be in place in late January unti for a federal assistance against COVID-19.
Funding from the Payroll Protection Program has run out and funding from the Care Acts will be gone by the end of December, Hogan said. He said the time for partisan politics is over, and he urged Congress to act for the American people.
“If you do nothing else,” Hogan said, “if you pass no other legislation and you can only accomplish one thing during this lame only duck session, it must be to pass the Stage-Four relief package.”
There are 1,583 COVID patients currently hospitalize in Maryland, 350 of them in ICU. In total, 4,516 Marylanders have died due to COVID-19. Maryland is still considered to be in a better place than other states.
Hogan said he has ordered a fast-tracked licensing process that will allow out-of-state healthcare practitioners and those with expired medical licenses to get transferred or renewed more quickly.
The governor, a Republican, said he also wants to increase the surge capacity of workers in hospitals to handle the increase in patients that is expected as colder weather grips the state.
He said he will activate the Maryland Responds Reserve Medical Corps, a network of first responders who volunteer to help during emergencies and disasters, and he has asked that colleges allow health students who are seniors to graduate earlier or offer credit to those who will help during the pandemic.
Taylor Parker, 20, a resident of Calvert County who recently test positive for COVID-19, said during the press conference that she had to be rushed to Calvert Health Medical Center on Thanksgiving because of breathing complications.
She said she had to wait 45 minutes before being seen by medical personnel and spent about five hours in the hospital.
“There definitely weren’t a lot of doctors or physician assistants at all,” Parker said. “They told me that when I got there. They told me it would be a wait because they were short staff on doctors and providers.”
Parker said she would not mind a medical or health student taking care of her and favors Hogan’s surge plan to increase the work staff in hospitals.
David Marcozzi, a senior medical advisor on Covid-19 and a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, also spoke at the press conference and said he wanted to thank all Marylanders who did not travel for Thanksgiving and stayed home.
He said people see this disease as inconvenient and feel as though it will run its course before everything returns to normal.
That is not the case, he said.
According to Marcozzi, cases, hospitalization, and deaths will rise unless people take action now to prevent the spread.
“It is simple,” Marcozzi said. “Wearing a mask is a sign of respect.”
He also said that people should not forget to take care of themselves mentally and physically. Everyone needs to double their efforts to maintain health and the economy. He also urged people to have hope and to take the vaccine when it’s available.