BALTIMORE — A viral social media post claiming to outline newly enforced restrictions in Maryland has been gaining a lot of attention online, with users asking if Maryland is really rolling back on pandemic guidelines.
The image, posted to the site “dcnowevents”, claims that Maryland is going back to Phase 1 on Nov. 12, 2020 at 5 p.m. The Verify team exists to sort through misinformation and cut to the facts. So we're Verifying: Is that true?
QUESTION: Is Maryland as a whole going back to Phase 1 of its coronavirus recovery plan?
ANSWER: No, the image is misleading. Baltimore City, not the entire state of Maryland, will be reverting back to Phase 1.
SOURCES:
Baltimore City Mayor's Office
WBAL-TV in Baltimore
PROCESS:
The image began making social media waves early on November 10, coming from a site called dcnowevents, posting the graphic on its Instagram page.
The post showed new restrictions for what it said was all or parts of Maryland, going back to an "amended stage 1" of COVID guidelines beginning at 5 p.m. on Nov. 12.
Our researchers took a closer look at the graphic, and it's branded with WBAL, a Baltimore TV station. They traced it back to the Baltimore mayor's office. The order is true there, but false everywhere else.
So just because it's effective for Baltimore, this doesn't mean that Maryland as a whole will be going back to Phase 1.
In the upper left-hand corner of the graphic, an outline of Baltimore is shown. If this were a graphic from the entire state of Maryland, you would most likely see the entire state of Maryland and its flag. You would also see this as an official post from Governor Larry Hogan's office.
Here's the full order from the Baltimore Mayors Office:
On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced tightened restrictions on the state, saying during a press conference that "all key metrics have considerably worsened" since the last update on November 5.
Most notably, Hogan said the statewide positivity rate was trending above 5% benchmark. Maryland will not be reverting back to Phase 1, he said, but instead will be adding restrictions like reducing indoor dining capacity from 75% to 50%.
Hogan also strongly advised against nonessential travel to states with positivity rates above 10%, following the lead of neighboring DC who announced additional travel guidelines this week.
What about Montgomery County?
On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed Executive Order 122-20, which reinstated tighter COVID restrictions as case counts continue to rise in the county.
Mostly, the changes involved gathering sizes and changing capacity limits to businesses. Many of those limits were eased in June, back when the county entered into Phase 2 of its recovery plan.
The changes mainly revolve around gathering sizes and capacity limits on businesses, which were eased in June when the county entered Phase 2 of its recovery plan.
Here's what some of those restrictions look like:
- Limit gathering sizes to 25 people (reduced from 50)
- Limit capacity for indoor dining, retail establishments, fitness centers, salons and religious facilities to 25% (reduced from 50%)
- Cut off carry-out and delivery services from restaurants at 10 p.m.
- No alcohol served at restaurants past 10 p.m.
- Require restaurants to keep a daily record of indoor and outdoor dining customers for at least 30 days to assist with contact tracing
