Restaurants Open Their Doors To Indoor Dining In Anne Arundel

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Additional Stage 2 reopenings will roll out Friday at 5 p.m. These additional measures are in line with Gov. Larry Hogan's latest executive order. The latest reopenings allow for restaurants to offer limited indoor seating at up to 50 percent capacity with "strict safety precautions" implemented. Outdoor amusements and rides, including miniature golf and go-kart tracks, may also resume operations under state guidance.

To address concerns that state reopening actions are happening "too quickly," Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman and county health officer Nilesh Kalyanaraman announced that Anne Arundel County will put an additional layer of precautions onto some of the reopening actions. This includes a requirement for face coverings for employees and customers in retail businesses and inside restaurants.

“Moving forward at this pace carries some risk, but the confusion created by separate rules from the state and local jurisdictions does not work from a planning or a public health perspective. We must all be in this together," Pittman stated. "Our ability to keep our numbers declining now depends on strict adherence to best practices by our businesses and careful distancing and face covering by our residents. With government restrictions being relaxed, it is time for us as individuals to complete the work we started. Let’s isolate this virus.”

Anne Arundel County intends to follow state reopenings for indoor fitness facilities, casinos, arcades and malls on June 19, which is in line Hogan’s executive order. Also on that date, the county will reopen restrooms and playgrounds in county parks.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health maintains a reopening dashboard to track public health measures that influence policy decisions. Other resources and information is available on the county’s road to recovery website.