The County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, yesterday voted unanimously to reinstate a mandate requiring all residents, regardless of vaccination status to wear masks indoors. The vote followed recommendations from County Executive Marc Elrich and County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles to take the action.
The County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, this week will consider a regulation that would mandate mask wearing indoors under certain circumstances, as the delta variant of the coronavirus has caused an increase in the number of reported infected people.
County officials opened the inaugural Pride in the Plaza Sunday to mark Pride Month, National HIV Testing Day and the official launch of Do It For You, the county’s first comprehensive sexual health campaign.
To commemorate Pride Month and National HIV Testing Day, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services HIV/STI Program will host Pride in the Plaza, an outdoor LGBTQ+ health and wellness community resource fair.
Montgomery County is now fully reopened, with all local health orders and their restrictions lifted as of 6 a.m. this morning. There are no longer any county pandemic-related limits on capacity or distancing, though residents are still subject to certain requirements from the state.
Dr. Travis Gayles officially informed the County Council yesterday that the county had reached the mark of 60% of the population with a least one dose of vaccine, triggering the second phase of reopening the county. The County Council will today consider and vote on a Sixth Amended Board of Health Regulation to formalize the changes in pandemic restrictions.
Montgomery County will continue to maintain the current level of pandemic restrictions and follow the reopening plan recently approved in the latest Board of Health regulation despite the governor’s state changes announced yesterday.
Montgomery County will maintain its current pandemic restrictions despite Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announcing yesterday, April 28, that he would lift the state’s outdoor mask mandate and restrictions on outdoor dining as of Saturday, May 1.
The parameters for the next stages of reopening the county have been set now that the County Council has passed an amended health regulation tying loosening restrictions to the percentage of vaccinated residents.