Montgomery County could relax restrictions as soon as Tuesday
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Montgomery County has now hit the 50% mark for county residents with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and that means it could take big step toward easing restrictions as soon as today.
If the measure is approved, businesses that are currently limited to 25% capacity could move to 50% capacity, and camps can move to the gathering limits of 50 indoors and 100 outdoors.
In addition:
- Malls could reopen pedestrian concourses
- Tables and chairs could be moved inside
- Sporting events could expand to 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors
The new guidelines could go into effect as soon as Tuesday at 5 p.m.
READ MORE: Montgomery County issues guidance for in-person graduation ceremonies
"We will continue to increase, and as we continue to push for more individuals to get vaccinated and pre-register, we’re looking at our strategies to afford them greater access, so it may be memorial day, maybe before memorial day I cant give you a definitive timeline on that," said Montgomery County Deputy Health Officer Dr. James Bridgers.
"I know it’s been inconvenient for people but there is nothing more important than public health and that’s been the priority of our list for a year so the data only validates as I say our approach and suggest we’ve been doing things the right way," said Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker.
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Some experts tell FOX 5, however, that Montgomery County – and too many other jurisdictions – have been too slow to lift restrictions as both the vaccination numbers have gone up, and the local case rates have gone down.
Dr. Marty Markaly of Johns Hopkins says that rather than looking for data to justify keeping restrictions in place, he believes officials should instead look for ways to open up.
"Our case fatality rate is comparable now is lower as it’s moved to younger people. So we’ve got to adapt quickly and right now we’ve got to recognize that we are not going to extinguish the virus from planet earth, we’ve got to have a threshold from which we start to do some reasonable reopenings," Markaly said.
The council will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.