MD Mandates COVID-19 Vaccines At Nursing Homes, Hospitals

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Workers in hospitals and nursing homes in Maryland will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing and screening for the virus.

Maryland is "incredibly on track to vaccinate 80 percent of all adults by Labor Day," Gov. Larry Hogan said in a Wednesday afternoon update on the state's coronavirus response.

About 79.5 percent of Marylanders who are 18 and older have been vaccinated, according to Hogan.

"We're not at the point where we need to mandate vaccines for the broader audience but, you know, we'll just keep watching it day to day," Hogan said.

"We haven't been talking about indoor mask requirements at all," he added. "Being 80 percent vaccinated we think is a good step, and if we can get the rest of the people vaccinated, hopefully we won't have to revert back to some of the things from a year ago when we didn't have vaccines."

Meanwhile, Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Prince George's County ordered people in their respective jurisdictions to wear masks indoors, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged people at the end of July to mask up in areas with "substantial" or "high" transmission of the virus. All jurisdictions in Maryland fall into those categories, except Carroll County, where as of Wednesday, transmission was classified as "moderate."

To prevent the spread of the delta variant of the virus, the governor said the state's health department would be issuing orders at two types of facilities — hospitals and nursing homes.

Vaccination protocols will be instituted for staff in all Maryland hospitals and nursing home employees, effective immediately, according to Hogan.

Employees must show proof of vaccination, with their first shot by Sept. 1, or adhere to regular screening and COVID-19 testing, based on the new hospital and nursing home mandate from the Maryland Department of Health.

"We will be redoubling our enforcement actions for nursing homes that do not comply," Hogan said. That means fines and civil penalties may increase, and there could be additional enforcement actions, according to the governor.

At Hogan's last news conference — which was Aug. 5 — he announced the Maryland Department of Health was requiring certain state employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing for the virus.

See Also: Vaccine Or Tests Required For Some MD Workers

"We were setting our own example by mandating only state workers" get vaccinated if they were employed in congregate facilities like prison systems, Hogan said. "This sort of follows that by saying the hospitals and the nursing homes have been trying their best and doing a pretty good job, but we want to help make sure that gets done."

At some nursing homes, state health data shows 40 percent of staff members have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday, Aug. 18.

"Our public health response ... has now evolved from the urgent crisis, state-of-emergency phase," Hogans said, "to now becoming a part of the ongoing day-to-day long-term response of our state health operation."

The governor also announced a new antibody testing pilot program that includes 500 residents to gauge their levels of immunity.

Watch the governor's coronavirus update below:

Here is a look at the data on coronavirus in Maryland as of Wednesday, Aug. 1:

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