Most of the states in the US started reopening business last month despite the increase in the number of coronavirus cases. However, some states reported a significant drop in the cases in the past few weeks. The Governor of Maryland, Lary Hogan announced that the state will proceed to phase 2 of ease in coronavirus lockdown from this week.
According to the governor, the state will reopen public spots including indoor dining restaurants, bars, shopping malls, and gyms as a part of their latest policy. Hogan also said that the state took strict measures at the beginning of the outbreak. This led to an immense decrease in the number of coronavirus cases in Maryland.
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The restaurants will open for indoor dining from Friday evening with 50 percent capacity. The restaurants will also follow social distancing rules and necessary measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus.
The Deputy Health Secretary, Fran Phillips briefed about the guidelines for restaurants to resume indoor dining. He said that the customers at the restaurant will follow the 6 feet apart rule and wear masks for as long as possible. The staff will ensure proper sanitization of tables and disinfecting common surfaces.
The governor also allowed graduation ceremonies in schools while maintaining social distancing practices. Moreover, outdoor pools and amusement parks will also reopen from Friday.
Other public spots such as gyms and martial art studios will reopen from June 19 while following social distancing and sanitization practices. These locations will, however, only allow 50 percent capacity so the spread of the virus is minimized.
The governor announced that the public amusement locations such as malls and casinos will also resume operations from 19 June after coronavirus lockdown while following strict preventive guidelines.
The governor also said that the state will work to improve the state economy which suffered badly at the hands of coronavirus outbreak.
Governor Hogan said that Maryland is all set to return to make economic progress after months of coronavirus lockdown. He also said that the unemployment rate in Maryland is one third less than other states which makes their economic situation better than other states.
He said that the state is still battling with the coronavirus and it is not over yet. He also warned the public to be more careful when they are outdoors to avoid contracting the coronavirus.
The recent protests across the country are a matter of concern for health experts in terms of coronavirus outbreak. Hogan said the health experts suggested all the participants of the protests get themselves coronavirus tested.
With the protests occurring for the past two weeks, the testing capacity of Maryland also increased. The Maryland Department of Health along with the Maryland National Guard plans to open multiple testing facilities for the protestors across various sites in Baltimore City.
Hogan also mentioned that Maryland increased the state testing capacity of 429% in less than two months. The state screened a 6.4% population of Maryland for coronavirus and observed a significant decrease in the number of coronavirus positive individuals.
The governor advised the public to work from home as much as possible and stay indoors as the coronavirus is still there. He also asked the people to follow social distancing guidelines and necessary sanitization practices so that the state can further relax coronavirus lockdown.