Maryland PIRG to Gov. Hogan: We need you to step up to save lives.

Maryland PIRG

Baltimore — Gov. Hogan announced today that he will be expanding coronavirus (COVID19) restrictions because of Maryland’s case rate per 100k. This announcement comes less than a week after the Governor declined to expand restrictions.

According to the COVID Exit Strategy Map, Maryland now has “uncontrolled spread” on the COVID-19. Cases and positivity rates are up across the state, predominantly because we are averaging 20 new cases per 100,000 people, up from 15 per 100k last week. According to the experts at the Harvard Global Health Institute, cases should be lower than 1 per 100k before “reopening.”

Maryland PIRG Foundation recently released a report on PPE shortages in Maryland nursing homes. As of August 23rd, in every category, a larger percentage of Maryland’s nursing homes had no supply or a critical shortage of supply for all types of PPE such as N95 masks, gowns and hand sanitizer compared to the national average. Experts believe PPE shortages have gotten worse, not better, since the beginning of the pandemic.

In response to the Governor’s announcement, Maryland PIRG director Emily Scarr released the following statement:

“If we want to stop the rapidly increasing spread of COVID-19 in Maryland, the quickest and most effective way is closing all non-essential businesses and ensuring people stay home. The Governor should go much further than he did with today’s announcement.

“We are at a critical point and the decisions made by our leaders today will determine how many lives we can save and help us get through the winter as safely as we can.”

“As the Gov. has said, “Wear a damn mask.” Maryland PIRG’s message to the Governor is as simple, “Stop the damn surge.” Two things are as clear as they’ve been for months: it’s in our power to save lives, and taking measures to do so will help, not hurt the economy.”

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