Dr. Tom Inglesby, a Johns Hopkins expert on pandemics who has advised the Hogan administration on its response to COVID-19, said the state is moving too fast in easing coronavirus-related restrictions.
In a Twitter thread Thursday morning, Inglesby said Maryland should not end limits on indoor gatherings.
Starting Friday at 5 p.m., restaurants will be allowed to serve people indoors at 50 percent capacity with requirements on distancing and sanitizing tables and high-touch places, Hogan announced Wednesday.
On June 19, gyms, indoor fitness studios, casinos, arcades and malls will also be allowed to reopen under similar guidelines.
“There’ve been outbreaks of COVID in indoor restaurants and bars, so they will also be higher risk,” said Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Casinos will also pose new risks unless major mitigation efforts made.”
He later added, “Group gatherings are situations where this virus has great capacity to spread widely.”
Inglesby is part of a group of public health specialists who have advised Hogan on his response to the coronavirus pandemic since March.
While noting cases, hospitalizations and intensive care patients have all been trending downward, Inglesby said the 519 new cases reported on Wednesday is still too high, and a rate of hundreds of new cases per day makes contact tracing and managing cases even harder.
“We need to drive that number down. More disease control would bring more public confidence, would be better for the state economy. We can’t let hundreds of cases a day become our new normal.”
In a statement, Hogan’s spokesman Michael Ricci said: “We very much appreciate Dr. Inglesby’s help and guidance. We continue to follow the safe, effective, and gradual roadmap that he and a number of other public health experts helped us develop, with public health protocols in place at every step. It is a cautious, data-driven approach, and as Dr. Inglesby notes, our key statewide health metrics continue to trend in a positive direction.”
Both Hogan and Fran Phillips, deputy health secretary, on Wednesday cautioned Marylanders that the state is not out of the woods with the pandemic.
“It’s still contagious, it’s still sneaky,” Phillips said. “It takes days before symptoms appear, and people may be infectious before they realize they have symptoms.”
She advised Marylanders they should still separate by six feet in public, wear face coverings, wash their hands frequently and use hand sanitizer to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Even as the state allows various businesses to resume operations inside, she said residents need to continue making responsible choices, especially if they are in close contact with vulnerable populations such as people older than 60 and people with pre-existing conditions.
“Just because it’s open doesn’t mean you have to participate,” she said.
Hogan said he would not choose to have a meal inside a restaurant because he is older than 60 and a cancer survivor.
“I think some people will feel comfortable and it will be great to help our restaurants get back on track,” he said. “But other people, like me, may not quite be ready to do inside dining, and I think that’s going to be a personal choice.”
Inglesby also warned that not enough time has passed since the state allowed for expanded outdoor dining and for businesses such as manufacturers, construction companies and salons to reopen.
“We haven’t had time to see impact,” he said.
Under the three-phase “Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery” plan Hogan unveiled in April, state officials said they were targeting 14-day decreases in new deaths, intensive care patients and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 before moving to the next phase.
The governor announced the first step on May 13, lifting the state’s stay-at-home order and allowing retail stores, manufacturers and churches to reopen at 50 percent capacity and with certain regulations in place.
Two weeks later, he further loosened restrictions to complete phase one of the plan. Outdoor dining, youth sports and youth day camps, outdoor pools and drive-in movie theaters were all allowed to open up.
A week after that, on Wednesday, June 3, Hogan announced phase two would begin that Friday. Under that step, more retail stores, offices, bank branches, insurance agencies and other businesses could reopen.
Yesterday’s announcement is a second step in phase two. According to the plan, stage three signals the reopening entertainment venues and high-capacity restaurants and bars and allows for larger gatherings.
Each step of the way, Hogan has let local jurisdictions decide which orders they want to relax and which they don’t. Local executives have said this approach creates confusion and have pressed to be given more advance notice from the governor.
Inglesby expressed concern that the massive protests in response to the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd could lead to the spread of the virus.
“We should wait to see how the state does in the coming weeks before making more changes,” he said.
After seeing the crowds of people on the streets, Hogan announced the state would be partnering with the Maryland National Guard to open “high-volume” testing sites around Baltimore City, including one at the Baltimore Convention Center, where there is already a field hospital for coronavirus patients.
The governor encouraged anyone who took part in a protest or was part of a large gathering to get tested as soon as possible.
But he also used the demonstrations to criticize Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young for his slower approach to the recovery plan.
“I think it’s absolutely absurd that there are thousands of people gathering in the streets and yet a small business in Baltimore can’t open their doors,” Hogan said. “And I think Jack Young should let those small retail shops open–they should have been open a long time ago.”
Inglesby warned about a number of states that reopened too soon and have now seen spikes in cases.
“We should continue to strive to be a state that keeps driving numbers down until this virus [is] under tighter control,” he said.
