MoCo Coronavirus: Schools To Be Cleaned, Gatherings Limited

ROCKVILLE, MD — Amid growing coronavirus cases and statewide school closures, Montgomery County leaders have unveiled more measures aimed at stemming the virus' spread.

The virus, dubbed "COVID-19," first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has since infected more than 124,000 people worldwide and killed 39 people in the United States. As of Thursday night, Maryland has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Six of the patients are from Montgomery County.

"There's no question that things are unfolding very rapidly," Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said at a press conference Thursday. "And we do expect the number of cases to increase."

Don't miss updates about the new coronavirus in Maryland. Get Patch news alerts.

In an effort to contain COVID-19, Elrich is now urging residents to postpone or cancel large-scale events and limit public gatherings to 250 people.

"Two-hundred fifty is still a lot of people, but we've got to make sure that we minimize the social contact to the greatest degree possible," Elrich said.

In addition to encouraging limits on public gatherings, Elrich said that, starting Monday, the county government will move to a telework schedule for all employees who can work remotely. Those who have to interact with the public directly will practice social distancing (by keeping a distance of roughly six feet). Starting Monday, all recreation centers and libraries will be closed. And all Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed from March 16 to 27.

"Over that two-week period, we are going to focus on providing extensive cleaning in all of our schools and facilities," MCPS Deputy Superintendent Monifa McKnight, who was also at Thursday's presser, said.

McKnight said MCPS has "planned to provide resources that are created specifically for elementary, middle, and high school students" and will be "sharing through our various communication methods exactly what those resources will be and how they will be accessed by all of our students."

McKnight also said that students and parents should frequently visit the MCPS webpage for more information.

At the press conference, school administrators said they didn't know how they would use MCPS' make-up days. But the goal is to share a plan with the public by Tuesday.

"We have days printed on our calendar that we use as make-up and there's a whole system that we know well about how that works," MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith said. "So I just want people not to cancel any plans right now. We will be back in touch with you soon, but let us think through this and figure out what makes the most sense given where we are right now today because — as Mr. Elrich said — everything has been changing hourly."

Because of how fluid the situation is, Elrich said residents need to work together and called on the federal government to take more action.

"At moments like this, it's important that everybody stick together. We've got the ability to deal with this collectively. I think we've got a good team. I'm impressed by the work the governor has done," Elrich said. "There's some things that we struggled with like getting test kits. It would be nice if the president of the United States treated this like an emergency because that's a major problem for us. We can't test all the people that we'd like to test."

Elrich said elementary school-aged students are the county's biggest concern.

"We're hoping that the federal government and the state government recognize that it would be wrong to put adults in a situation where they would have to choose between taking care of their kids and not going to work and not earning the money they need to make a mortgage payment or rent. That's why this is a national crisis. It's not going to be solved by those of us on a local level. We need the federal government to step up with some sort of income guarantees or protections for people so that somebody doesn't stay home and take care of their kids and then discover they are getting evicted the next month for not paying the rent," Elrich said.

"And if there was ever a need for national policy and something that is informed by compassion and understanding what the implications of this are, it's right now. It's not in anybody's interest to have these people go to work, potentially sick or leave elementary school-aged kids ... home alone."

Gov. Larry Hogan last week declared a state of emergency. However, President Donald Trump has yet to implement any nationwide emergency declaration.

Despite growing concerns about a local outbreak, Dr. Travis Gayles — the county's health officer and chief of Public Health Services — emphasized that "the risk of COVID-19 to the overwhelming majority of the public is low."

"I want people to also understand ... that does not mean you're going to see everyone walking around in public in hazmat suits and protection gear," Gayles said. "What it means is we recognize that dynamics have changed and we need to be a little more proactive in terms of implementing strategies to address that."

He added that these more proactive measures do not mean the county has an influx of cases.

SEE ALSO:

• MD Coronavirus: Public Schools To Close, Spring Break Changes
• MD Coronavirus: 12 On Cruise Ship; MVA, Nursing Home Changes
• MD Coronavirus Patients Were At 2 Public Events, Hogan Concerned
• How Ready Is Montgomery County For Coronavirus?
• Montgomery Outlines Coronavirus Preparedness Efforts, Tips