Prince George’s County will hold off on moving to phase three of its reopening plan a little longer as Covid-19 cases have spiked again in the region’s hardest-hit municipality during the pandemic.
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said Thursday the county’s positivity rate increased to 4.2% last week after previously registering a low of 3.5% the week prior. County officials had suggested in late-September a move to phase three could be coming soon if the metrics showed progress.
“This fluctuation for all of us is very concerning,” Alsobrooks said at a press conference. “We have been under that 5% mark for a couple weeks, but we have seen that number go up and down, so we are really concerned and want to make sure that it stays at a low number.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan moved the state into phase three on Sept. 4 — which allowed all businesses to reopen — but local jurisdictions could opt out. Prince George’s and Montgomery County have remained in modified versions of phase two. Theaters and bars in Prince George’s remain closed and restaurants and retail must remain capped at 50% capacity.
Alsobrooks also said Thursday the county will not allow the nursing home visitations and the return to normal capacities at day care centers the state permitted last week due to the recent spike.
“Covid-19 is still very present in the community,” Alsobrooks said. “It is not gone, but it is still spreading slowly through our community.”
Alsobrooks said businesses in Prince George’s have been doing “an amazing job” in keeping customers safe. She said county ambassador teams have conducted more than 4,000 inspections since July to make sure businesses are compliant with Covid safety measures and the county has closed just four businesses as a result of those reviews.
She said the county has been dealing with large gatherings of children at National Harbor, where the virus might easily spread, and that has included unsupervised hotel parties hosted by parents for underage children they leave in those hotel rooms.
“I understand that for many of our young people and for their parents, this is a difficult time when we have so many restrictions on what is safe for our young people,” Alsobrooks said. “I know they want to see each other, many of them miss their friends, they want to come together, we totally get it. And so we know that for our young people, we need activities.”
The county said registration for youth sports is available, as well as a long list of other fitness, arts and video game classes through its parks department.
County officials also advised against trick-or-treating on Halloween for fear of spread of the virus. It is also banning indoor haunted house attractions.
The county has posted 30,356 cases of Covid-19, the most in Maryland and in Greater Washington. It has recorded 833 deaths related to the virus.
Current coronavirus count
- Number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in D.C., Maryland and Virginia: 300,460 (122,032 in Greater Washington)
- The breakdown: 15,765 cases in the District (634 deaths), 129,425 cases in Maryland (3,979 deaths) and 155,270 cases in Virginia (3,325 deaths)
- In Northern Virginia, there are 52,618 confirmed cases, and 53,649 in the suburban Maryland counties of Prince George’s and Montgomery
(Data from Johns Hopkins University)
By the numbers
$220 million — Amount Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is allocating to K-12 public schools in the state to support the purchase of Covid-19 testing supplies, personal protective equipment and distance-learning technology. It’s a new allocation of federal CARES Act funding that Northam announced Thursday. All 132 public school districts in the state will receive funding on a formula of $175 per pupil based on fall enrollment. About $71 million of the new funding will go to public school systems in Northern Virginia.
250 — Number of spectators allowed at FedEx Field on Sunday for the Washington Football Team’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, according to The Washington Post. The seats will be given to “close family members” of players, coaches and team employees, according to a letter to season-ticket holders. They will be placed in socially distanced seating throughout the 82,000-seat stadium in Landover and will be required to wear masks. The move was made at the request of players and staff at owner Dan Snyder’s franchise and accommodated by Prince George’s County.
Odds and ends
- Unemployment benefits for some local self-employed workers in the District will likely end after 39 weeks. (City Paper)
- Maryland schools are required to report any coronavirus cases, but health officials don’t plan on publicizing the data. (Baltimore Sun)
- Alexandria has extended its car-free “streatery” zone at the bottom of King Street in Old Town through March. The area provides more space for outdoor dining and for pedestrians to spread out. (WTOP)
- You can now stroll with a drink in your hand in parts of Northern Virginia, thanks to eased restrictions in response to the pandemic. To that, we say “Prost!” (Washingtonian)
- Ben Olsen, the longtime coach of D.C. United and a former Washington Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree, was fired Thursday in the midst of an injury-plagued campaign for the struggling club. Olsen, who joined United as a player in 1998 and moved into coaching with the team directly after the end of his playing career in 2010, is likely to take another job within the organization. (Washington Post)
