Montgomery County executive proposes 1-hour indoor dining limit
Indoor dining ban in Montgomery County could be lifted next week
Montgomery County leaders may be ready to lift the ban on indoor dining. Weâve got a look at a new proposed executive order â it outlines a return to 25 percent capacity.
BETHESDA, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - The newly proposed executive order that Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich submitted to the county council on Tuesday includes the resume to 25% max capacity on indoor dining, a 10 p.m. curfew on alcohol sales and consumption, and in what appears to be a new measure for the county, a one-hour limit to indoor dining.
Jawando says ‘backwards’ step during COVID-19 spread would be ‘ridiculous’
February 2, 2021 | 2:07 pm
February 5, 2021
This story was updated at 9:51 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2021, to include additional details about the executive order.
Montgomery County officials are considering reopening indoor dining at 25% capacity, but might limit each customer’s dining time to one hour.
A draft executive order County Executive Marc Elrich sent the County Council on Tuesday says the one-hour dining period for each customer would run from when they are seated until when they leave.
Restaurants would be required to keep a daily record of the date, time, name and contact information of at least one person in each dining party. The record would be kept for at least 30 days for contact tracing purposes.
Photo | iStock
When asked why public school employees are receiving COVID-19 vaccines and nonpublic school employees are not, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said it was up to Gov. Larry Hogan to prioritize which groups are eligible to get the injection, not the county.
During an interview on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamidi Show Jan. 29, Elrich said, “How the Governor decides to prioritize private schools, you know, we don’t make a decision to who we are going to vaccinate or not.”
Maryland educators are eligible under the state’s current Phase 1C, but Montgomery County still is concentrating on its elderly population first before moving onto future phases, because there aren’t enough dosages to cover everyone who is in the first phase, Elrich said on the show.
Maryland lawmakers who wanted a COVID-19 vaccine were able to get one beginning this week.
They are eligible because Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination protocol has a “continuity of government” provision that includes members of the General Assembly. Maryland entered Phase 1C on Jan. 25.
“We’re a constitutional part of government, and we are there for continuity of government,” said Senate Minority Whip Michael J. Hough (R-Frederick and Carroll). “We’re down here. We’ve got to approve the state budget, and we’re approving the governor’s relief package.”
“So we’re doing things that are very important for the citizens of Maryland during this pandemic.”
Race disparity in DC regionâs early vaccine rollout data
By Sierra Fox
Racial equity a concern with COVID-19 vaccines
There are not only problems with vaccine distribution, but equity issues are emerging with the rollout across the D.C. region.
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - There are not only problems with vaccine distribution, but equity issues are emerging with the rollout across the D.C. region.
FOX 5 has discovered there are holes in collecting race data for the people getting the vaccine across the area, which is leaving doubts about equitable distribution. It is critically important in the United States that every state publish their data on race and ethnicity. The challenge that we’ve had is ensuring vaccine providers give us the data and they collect it at the time of dose administration. We’ve had a tremendously challenging time having vaccine providers collect race and ethnicity data, said Dr. Laquanda Nesbitt, District of Columbia Health Department.