HOGAN ISSUES MANDATORY STAY-AT-HOME ORDER: Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday ordered Marylanders to stay at home unless they are going out for essential services such as buying food or medicine, or seeing a doctor. The order went into effect at 8 p.m., Bryan Renbaum reports for MarylandReporter.
- The stay-at-home order comes as the state saw nearly 180 new cases of the disease in 24 hours and the number of deaths go from five on Friday to 17 by Monday evening, Heather Mongilio and Jeremy Arias of the Frederick News-Post report.
- Anyone found in violation of the order can be arrested and is subject to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine or both, reports Bryan Sears in the Daily Record. A video of the press conference tops the article.
- Pamela Wood of the Sun reports that Maryland residents were already under severe restrictions, with schools, colleges, sit-down restaurants, malls, casinos, gyms, theaters and nonessential businesses ordered closed over the past few weeks. the governor previously had banned gatherings of more than 10 people.
- Here’s Tamela Baker’s article for the Hagerstown Herald Mail.
- Danielle Gaines of Maryland Matters writes an extensive article about Hogan’s latest order.
- Caitlynn Peetz of Bethesda Beat writes that Hogan cited a rapid increase in confirmed coronavirus cases over the past week and residents not taking the pandemic seriously as reasons for his decision.
- Rebecca Tan of the Post writes that before the order a person may have been frowned upon for playing basketball with friends or having brunch with people who are not part of their household, now — in Maryland and in the District, at least — they may be detained, fined or even given jail time.
D.C. REGION NOW IN QUASI-LOCKDOWN: With similar orders issued Monday by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, the region is now under a quasi-lockdown — a drastic change in how people live and work in the Mid-Atlantic compared to just a few weeks ago, Yvonne Wenger and Pamela Wood of the Sun report.
- Without new action, Hogan warned, the national capital region could soon resemble the New York metropolitan area, which reported 253 deaths Monday and has become a global epicenter for the pandemic, Antonio Olivo, Ovetta Wiggins and Gregory S. Schneider report in the Post.
COUNTIES SEEK OK FOR DAY CARES IN SCHOOLS: As local governments scramble to set up makeshift day care centers for children of essential personnel who are working through the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions find themselves at odds with the Maryland Department of Education over whether school buildings can be used to house some of those facilities, Josh Kurtz reports in Maryland Matters.
DRIVE-THRU TESTING, SURGE SITES: Maryland has opened three drive-thru testing sites in the state and is working to add more hospital surge capacity as the number of novel coronavirus cases continues to climb, Jessica Iannetta reports for the Baltimore Business Journal.
PATIENTS’ RACE ABSENT FROM COVID STATS: Absent from more detailed data on the cases of Covid-19 in Maryland – which includes age, sex and county – is race. Some lawmakers say publishing this information while the pandemic is ongoing is vital so that state officials can monitor any disparities as they arise, Talia Richman of the Sun reports.
LAB REVIVED AT FORT DETRICK: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has restored a military laboratory on Fort Detrick in Frederick to full capacity, approximately eight months after shutting down research in its top laboratories, Heather Mongilio of the Frederick News-Post reports.
9 COVID-19 CASES AT PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL: Eight patients and one staff member have tested positive for COVID-19 at Maryland’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital, the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Howard County, Dan Morse is reporting in the Post.
- A second Carroll County resident has died amid a major coronavirus outbreak at a Mount Airy nursing home, and in Howard County, officials revealed Monday that the virus killed a resident of a nursing home there earlier this month, report Scott Dance, Mary Grace Keller and Kevin Rector for the Sun.
- The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Montgomery County rose to 341 cases on Monday from 301 on Sunday, according to the Maryland Department of Health, Dan Shere of Bethesda Beat reports.
OPINION: PROTECTING THE VOTE: State Sen. Cheryl Kagan, in a commentary for Maryland Matters, outlines the impact that the COVID-19 crisis is having upon democracy and our elections, and the ways Maryland can go about ensuring our franchise survives.
Sen. Cheryl Kagan
OPINION: THE LOOK OF LEADERSHIP: In a column for the Capital Gazette, Herb McMillan writes on recognizing leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic: As they sit home out of work, with children out of school, and with coronavirus cases rising, Americans can decide this issue themselves. Who saw danger and recognized an opportunity to help protect them, and who ignored danger but recognized an opportunity to score political points?
- Along a similar vein, Barry Rascovar opines in his Political Maryland blog that when “the history of the corona virus pandemic is written, the hero won’t be Donald Trump but the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, as well as other truth tellers like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.” As Montgomery County continues preparing for a surge of coronavirus cases, hospitals have asked the county to help purchase supplies and cover the cost of converting non-clinical spaces into treatment areas. The County Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on whether to use $10 million from general fund reserves to help, Briana Adhikusuma reports for Bethesda Beat.
ALLEGANY STEPS UP TO SEW MASKS: Shortages of surgical masks and personal protective equipment across the U.S. have led to companies retooling their machines and people getting inventive to ease the load, and while Allegany County has yet to have a reported case of COVID-19, local businesses and do-gooders have stepped up to make sure health-care workers are supported, Brandon Glass reports in the Cumberland Times News.
Smart stormwater ponds can be monitored and even manually operated remotely. (Dave Harp/Bay Journal)
‘SMART PONDS’ CONTROL STORMWATER RUNOFF: A few dozen runoff collection ponds that were built years ago in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been retrofitted to “smarten” them up, reports the Bay Journal’s Tim Wheeler in MarylandReporter. Equipped with real-time sensors and cloud-based controls, they remotely release or retain stormwater in response to online weather reports. More — likely many more — are on the way.
