Gov. Hogan issues executive order requiring face masks in public, announces other actions being taken statewide
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Governor Larry Hogan held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to provide updates on the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
An executive order issued by the governor will require face masks or face coverings to be worn inside retail establishments or when riding any form of public transportation in the state. This also requires staff to wear face coverings and requires those businesses to put appropriate social distancing measures in place. In order to give retailers time to make these adjustments, this order will go into effect at 7 a.m. Saturday, April 18th.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Maryland has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, with 349 deaths, 87 of which have happened in the last 48 hours.
Hogan said that despite rising numbers, we are now beginning to see signs that early and aggressive actions taken by the state are making a difference. Due to early and aggressive actions, we are now in a position to move from containment and mitigation to planning the gradual roll out of our recovery phase.
He announced that there are four critical building blocks of the state’s recovery plan:
- Exponentially expanding testing capacity
- Increasing hospital surge capacity
- Ramping up supply of PPE
- Building a robust contract tracing operation
