Montgomery County Prepared To Move On To Phase 2 Of Reopening

ROCKVILLE, MD – Montgomery County officials are prepared to move into Phase 2 of its reopening plan as early as next week, which would allow churches and fitness centers to reopen as well as allowing restaurants to begin to offer indoor dining.

County executive Marc Elrich announced the plan on Wednesday but warned that many of the aspects of the next step of reopening is dependent on Gov. Larry Hogan to allow similar steps to be taken. Under the plan, indoor and outdoor gatherings will be expanded from 10 to 50 people and churches, fitness centers and restaurants would be limited to one person per every 200 square feet of space.

Elrich made the announcement in anticipation of Hogan moving reopening efforts in similar directors, Elrich said. A detailed outline of what Phase 2 would look like is available on the county’s website. Elrich said the dates for the county to move forward remains flexible but added that if coronavirus data continues to be “reasonable”, the county will move ahead with its plan.

“If this is where the governor goes, this is where we are prepared to go,” Elrich said Wednesday during his weekly media briefing.

On Wednesday, county health officials announced 130 new coronavirus cases and five new coronavirus-related deaths. The updated numbers takes the countywide total to 13,124 confirmed cases and 633 deaths. The county currently has a 11 percent test positivity rate after administering 1,071 tests in the past 24 hours.

Montgomery County continues to rank second in positive cases behind Prince George’s County, where 16,753 people have been confirmed to have had the coronavirus. On Wednesday, state health officials announced 561 new cases and an additional 19 deaths. Statewide, there are now 59,465 confirmed cases and 2,719 deaths.

Fitness centers have remained closed due to the ongoing pandemic and churches have been limited to holding virtual or drive-in services. That will be expanded to allow indoor and outdoor services with the social distancing requirements. Restaurants will be able to open their indoor dining spaces up to 50 percent of capacity and retail stores that have been limited to curbside pickup will allow patrons to shop in-store on a one patron per 200 square foot space basis.

Elrich said that he also anticipates other Montgomery County communities to follow the lead of Bethesda, which has announced a “Bethesda Streetery” program in which city streets are closed to allow for restaurants to expand their outdoor dining options. As part of the plan, tables are spaced six feet apart with each table accommodating up to four people.

“We want to make sure that everybody can be able get to some options for outdoor dining wherever they live in the county,” Elrich said.

County chief health officer Dr. Travis Gayles said that the county will continue to rely on data to determine what shape reopening takes. Gayles echoed Elrich’s statement that a spike in confirmed cases would require county officials to step back from moving forward with plans to move ahead to Phase 2.

Elrich said that after seeing a steady climb in confirmed cases, Montgomery County has seen new cases level off, which has allowed the county to continuing to reopen.

“What we’re trying to stop is the resumption of that curve (in cases),” Elrich said. “We’re hoping we don’t see that.”