FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — On Friday, most of Maryland entered Phase two of the state’s Roadmap to Recovery. This comes after Maryland saw the largest decline in positivity rate in America over the course of the last week.
Montgomery and Prince George’s County are exempt from moving to phase two. Montgomery County leaders said they could move to that phase as early as next week, while Prince George’s County is planning to move to a modified phase two starting June 15.
What opened Friday, June 12 at 5 p.m.:
- Indoor dining at 50% capacity, with distancing and following strict public health requirements
- Outdoor amusements and attractions, miniature golf and go-karts
- Outdoor pools capacity increasing to 50%
At Adventure Park USA in Frederick County, people were waiting for the clock to hit 5 p.m. so they could ride roller coasters again for the first time this season.
The adventure park had previously been open for mini-golf, but expanded its attractions on Friday with safety measures in mind.
“Customer safety is number one, customer satisfaction is number two," Adventure Park USA COO Erik Stottlemyer said. "The CDC guidelines that we're following are, of course, safe distancing, we're staying six feet apart, we're hand sanitizing before and after every single ride so if a patron gets on a ride it's sanitized before they get on."
Restaurants also prepared for changes, as patrons are now allowed to dine inside an establishment.
Sherif Salem, the co-owner of Hootch and Banter in downtown Frederick, said they’re making sure they’re abiding by the governor’s guidelines while also putting policies in place to keep customers safe.
“We're going to have the hand sanitizers, we're going to sterilize the tables, and the bathrooms will be cleaned,” Salem said. “But as an individual, they just have to be cautious of themselves as well. If they do eat or talk or whatever it is, they need to sanitize themselves and just make sure that they're aware of their surroundings.”
He said staff will also be wearing face coverings.
“It's going to be different, and the challenges of being in a downtown location and being in an old historical building is that it wasn't set up for six feet of spacing,” Salem said. “We had to remove a lot of our tables, chairs, bar seats. But we have it all configured in a zigzag that it is going to be laid out with a six-feet divider between these tables.”
As an incentive for restaurants to have more outdoor dining seating, several downtown Frederick streets were blocked off starting Friday to allow more outdoor dining seats.
Maryland is slated to lessen more restrictions starting June 19.
What can open Friday, June 19 at 5 p.m.:
- Gyms, indoor fitness centers, dance studios, martial arts at 50% capacity with distancing and following strict public health requirements
- Casinos
- Arcades
- Malls