Anne Arundel County Executive Pittman announced that the county implemented additional Stage 2 reopenings on Friday, June 12 at 5 p.m., in line with Governor Larry Hogan’s latest executive order.
This allows county restaurants to begin offering limited indoor seating up to 50 percent capacity with strict safety precautions in place. Outdoor amusements and rides, including miniature golf and go-kart tracks, may also resume under state guidance.
To address concerns that state reopening actions are happening too quickly, County Executive Pittman and county Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman announced that the county will put an additional layer of precautions onto some of the reopening actions. This includes a requirement for face coverings for employees and customers in retail businesses and inside restaurants.
“Moving forward at this pace carries some risk, but the confusion created by separate rules from the state and local jurisdictions does not work from a planning or a public health perspective. We must all be in this together,” said Pittman. “Our ability to keep our numbers declining now depends on strict adherence to best practices by our businesses, and careful distancing and face covering by our residents. With government restrictions being relaxed, it is time for us as individuals to complete the work we started. Let’s isolate this virus.”
Anne Arundel County intends to follow state reopenings for indoor fitness facilities, casinos, arcades and malls on June 19, consistent with Hogan’s order. Also, on that date, the county will reopen restrooms and playgrounds in county parks.
The Anne Arundel County Department of Health maintains a reopening dashboard at https://aahealth.org/reopening-dashboard-status-report to track public health measures that influence policy decisions.