ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland will lift quarantining requirements for residents who travel outside of the state starting Friday, March 12, Gov. Larry Hogan said.
Previously, Marylanders who traveled out-of-state were required to quarantine for a 10-day period when they returned or provide a negative COVID-19 test.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Hogan also announced that he will lift more COVID-19 restrictions starting Friday, March 12 at 5 p.m., including all capacity restrictions on dining (both indoor and outdoor), retail spaces, personal services, religious buildings, indoor recreation, fitness centers and casinos.
While COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted across the state, Hogan emphasized that masks are required and social distancing should be maintained.
"Let’s continue to be smart. We can’t afford to undo all the tremendous progress that we have made together," Hogan said.
Marylanders have not operated with this level of freedom since March 2020, when the governor announced the shutdown of restaurants and retail stores, and eventually instituted a stay-at-home order.
"All of our vaccine progress along with all of our sustained positive improvements have enabled us to continue to follow the science and to be able today to take significant steps to further ease more of the mitigation measures currently in place," Hogan said.
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It is up to individual counties to decide whether they will choose to follow the governor's guidance on lifting restrictions; notably, Montgomery and Prince George's counties have in the past chosen to wait before implementing the governor's guidance.
Currently, Maryland is averaging 36,258 shots per day, which is an increase of more than 1,100%, Hogan said.