ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — More coronavirus-related restrictions will be lifted for some Howard County businesses starting Friday.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced Monday morning that retail stores, barbershops and hair salons are able to operate at 50% capacity starting at 7 a.m. on May 29 with some specific industry-related guidelines.
Beginning Friday morning, the following reopens in Howard County:
- Retailers in Howard County can open at 50% of maximum occupancy.
- Retailers are still encouraged to use curbside pick-up whenever possible.
- Barbers and hair salons can open at 50% of maximum occupancy including staff.
- Businesses must continue to operate by appointment only.
- Staff and clients must wear masks.
- Religious institutions may hold outdoor services of up to 250 people, as long as all participants can maintain appropriate physical distancing of 6 feet.
- Indoor services are still limited to a maximum of 10 people.
The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services has provided guidelines for businesses to determine their maximum occupancy to assist during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All retail stores must post signage at or near the front door reminding customers to wear masks and maintain physical distancing. Howard County will provide signs digitally that business owners can print and display in their businesses.
"On May 13, when Gov. Larry Hogan announced that many decisions regarding reopening would be delegated to local jurisdictions, I made the difficult decision to keep certain restrictions in Howard County. At the time, our data showed we weren't ready to go as far as the governor’s order," Ball said.
Ball and other leaders released the county's HoCo RISE plan to reopen and said since announcing the plan, metrics have been showing promising trends.
"We've made progress on the building blocks for reopening, including a lower ICU and ventilator utilization rate, a lower daily average of new cases, and an increase in our contact tracing operation," Ball said.
After spiking to 78.8%, the county’s ICU utilization rate has fallen or stayed the same, the county executive reported. As of May 23, the ICU rate was at its lowest level since April 1, he added.
"While we are pleased with the progress we are seeing, we must not become complacent as we enter new phases of reopening. As we begin to lift restrictions, we will continue to keep a close eye on our data, and ease or tighten restrictions as needed," Ball said.
Howard County Health Officer Dr. Maura Rossman said that evidence supporting declining cases is allowing the county to reopen this week.
"We do have evidence that supports gradual reopening in our community in a safer manner," Rossman said. "We must continue to practice social distancing: wearing facial coverings, washing our hands and the other methods we have learned in these past 10 weeks or more, and how to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our colleagues."
As to why they are still limiting indoor crowds at houses of worship, the county executive said they are following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House.
"Church gatherings, oftentimes, we'll have the large gatherings for several, maybe 10 hours in a closed environment, and frankly what we’ve seen is a lot of folks who might necessarily go to a lot of the church gatherings might still be in our vulnerable population," Ball said.
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