Baltimore County Council Extends State Of Emergency: Report

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — In a special session, the Baltimore County Council reportedly voted to continue the state of emergency in Baltimore County. A vote by the council will be required to end the state of emergency as well.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski declared a local state of emergency on Aug. 24 in response to rising case rates due to the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Declaring a state of emergency allows the county to do the following in an expedited manner, according to the county executive:

• Adopt emergency public health measures
• Get support from state and federal governments for response and recovery efforts
• Procure supplies needed to protect public health

The vote to extend the state of emergency beyond Aug. 30 was 4-3, along party lines, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported Democrats Council Chair Julian Jones as well as Councilmembers Cathy Bevins, Izzy Patoka and Tom Quirk were in favor of the measure.

At the hearing, the health officer for Baltimore County said hospitalizations increased 23 percent for the week that ended Friday due to the coronavirus, according to the newspaper, which reported the county's administrative officer noted the state of emergency could enable health care providers to use measures like telehealth to free up resources in emergency rooms.

The state of emergency will give the county executive authority to impose capacity limits on businesses and reinstitute mask mandates, The Baltimore Sun reported.

"Don't wait until things are so bad that that's when you decide to do something," said Jones, who has experience as a fire chief in Anne Arundel County.

Republican Councilmen David Marks, Todd Crandell and Wade Kach voted against the state of emergency, according to WYPR.

"It's up to people's personal choice how they want to handle it," said Crandell, who led the opposition to the state of emergency, according to the radio station. "The virus isn't going away."

Baltimore County has confirmed 69,894 cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 1,670 residents have died from the virus, the Maryland Department of Health reported Tuesday.

Baltimore County hospitals have 76 people hospitalized, according to the county's coronavirus data hub, which shows at the peak of the pandemic in the county, Baltimore County hospitals had more than 200 people hospitalized.

See Also: Delta Variant Sparks State Of Emergency In Baltimore County

This article has been updated to include that Jones was a fire chief in Anne Arundel County.