As Fall Coronavirus Surge Hits, Hogan Announces More Economic Aid

ANNAPOLIS, MD — With the fall coronavirus surge setting in, Maryland's economy could be vulnerable. Gov. Larry Hogan intervened Thursday, announcing a $70 million economic relief plan.

"Unfortunately, we have more tough times ahead of us," Hogan said. "It’s going to get worse before it gets better."

Hogan's plan will send:

• $20 million to the state's personal protective equipment stockpile
• $15 million to the Maryland Department of Labor
• $10 million to rental assistance programs
• $10 million to preordering vaccine supplies
• $2 million to foster care providers
• $2 million to the Maryland Department of Human Services
• $1 million to wastewater sampling projects to detect coronavirus outbreaks

The investment draws from money that Maryland collected through the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, otherwise known as the CARES Act. These federal funds expire at the end of the year, so Hogan asked counties to spend their allocations before then.

"The law isn’t going to change, and we have desperate need right now," Hogan said. "We’re going to spend every penny that state has before the end of the year."

The governor's plan will grow Maryland's PPE stockpile from 60 to 90 days. It will also help the Departments of Labor and Human Services expand their unemployment and food assistance call centers.

The money will allow the state to buy syringes for a potential vaccine before it is released. Additionally, Maryland will now screen the wastewater of some public housing and correctional facilities to detect coronavirus outbreaks before they spread.

"I’ve always told it to you straight," Hogan said. "The sad truth is that the next several months will likely be, by far, the most difficult that we have faced."

Hogan's Thursday announcement comes on top of a $250 million coronavirus relief effort that he unveiled in October. That plan matched Maryland's initial stimulus deal. The state has now committed $570 million to economic aid.

Maryland's October stimulus package distributed:

• $50 million to the Maryland Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Fund
• $50 million to restaurants
• $20 million to the Main Street Maryland Program and Baltimore Main Streets
• $20 million to the Layoff Aversion Fund
• $5 million to small businesses and minority-owned establishments as loans
• $3 million to county art organizations, nonprofits and artists
• $2 million to the tourism industry

Though Hogan believes a push was necessary, he would have rather seen it come from the federal government.

The first nationwide stimulus effort came in March when Congress passed the CARES Act. That deal delivered $10 billion to Maryland's small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program.

The initiative helped establishments pay bills, compensate employees and buy personal protective equipment. Though the effort helped 81,000 local businesses, it still wasn't enough.

Some owners didn't qualify, and others needed more help. They turned to the state for assistance, flooding Maryland's programs and creating backlogs.

Hogan said his new plans will fill some of the gaps, but they can't save everybody. For that, Hogan asks the federal government for help.

"Our leaders in Washington, on both sides of the aisle, need to put politics aside, do their jobs and get this done for the American people," Hogan said.

For more information on Hogan's relief efforts, click here.

Coronavirus Case Rate

Health officials focus on several metrics to evaluate the coronavirus pandemic. The most frequently-used are the case rate, hospitalizations and percent positivity.

The case rate is a per-capita measure that makes it easy to compare places with different populations. A state's case rate is the average number of new coronavirus infections-per-day that it registers over a rolling week per 100,000 people.

As a barometer, Maryland health officials say expanded in-person school classes are probably safe when the local case rate dips below 5. Right now, the state's case rate has spiked to 22.82. That's Maryland's highest mark since the pandemic started.

The state's case rate hit previous peaks of 18.03 on May 7 and 15.55 on July 31. It reached lows of 5.6 on June 24 and 7.63 on Sept. 26, but it's been an upward climb since then.

Hospitalizations

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also pointed upward. The disease left 863 Marylanders hospitalized on Thursday, which is the most since June 11.

Hospitalizations are down from the state's April 30 high of 1,711, but they have leaped above summertime lows. As recently as Sept. 20, 281 people were in the hospital. That state has seen a steady increase for the last six weeks.

Covid ActNow, a coronavirus statistics website, estimates that Maryland has 1,107 beds in the intensive care unit. Hospitals need to save some of these beds for emergencies that aren't related to coronavirus.

On Thursday, Maryland had 199 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's the most since June 25. ICU hospitalizations maxed out at 611 on May 10 and receded to 68 by Sept. 20.

Positivity Rate

Maryland's positivity rate is also on the upswing. This is the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive over a moving seven days. The statistic also measures whether an area has enough testing to identify most of its infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a positivity rate of less than 5 percent demonstrates that a region has enough testing to control its outbreak. The Maryland Department of Health says hybrid learning should be safe when jurisdictions fall beneath this benchmark.

The state's positivity rate has ascended to 5.65 percent. That's down from its April 17 high of 26.88 percent, but it's up from its Sept. 24 low of 2.51 percent.

Maryland stayed beneath the 5 percent positivity threshold for 136 days. That streak, which started on June 25, came to an end Sunday.

Total Cases And Deaths

Maryland has 159,900 total coronavirus infections. The virus is blamed for the death of 4,112 Marylanders, including 112 in November alone.

State Of The Economy

Hogan announced a new set of coronavirus regulations Tuesday. His new mandate reduces restaurants and bars to half capacity. They were previously capped at 75 percent capacity.

The state still remains in the third and final stage of coronavirus recovery. Some counties are more restrictive, however.

Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County and Prince George's County are the only four Maryland jurisdictions to remain in Stage 2 of coronavirus recovery. The remaining 20 counties entered the third and final stage on Sept. 4.

Baltimore City is in phase 1 of restrictions, with both indoor and outdoor gatherings capped at 10 people.

Marylanders are starting to work as restrictions. After peaking at 10.1 percent in April, the state's unemployment rate dropped in three consecutive months.

By August, 7 percent of Maryland workers were unemployed. The state took a step backward in September, however.

Now, 7.2 percent of the labor force is out of a job. In comparison, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in February, a month before coronavirus shutdowns began. October's numbers are not out yet.

While Maryland still has a way to go before it reaches its pre-coronavirus economy, the state is on par with most of the country. The national unemployment rate sits at 6.9 percent, which is down from its recent high of 14.7 percent in April.

Unemployment rates are posted monthly, so they don't use the most recent information. The number of new unemployment claims-per-week offers a more timely overview of the economy. The freshest report comes from the week ending on Nov. 7.

That week, Maryland tallied 17,254 first-time unemployment insurance claims. In comparison, the state counted 2,090 first-time filings in the week of March 5, which was when Hogan declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Maryland's worst stint came during the week of May 2, when it saw 109,263 new claims. That number is inflated, partially because it was the first week of CARES Act unemployment programs.

The weeks sandwiching May 2 give a more accurate picture of the economy's lowest point. The last week of April saw 37,225 first-time claims, and the week after reported 65,805 new filings.

Altogether, more than 788,000 people have filed for unemployment insurance in the state. Maryland has responded to about 93.7 percent of those claimants. Around 622,000 have collected payments totaling more than $7.5 billion. About 116,000 did not qualify, and 49,000 are still in processing.

The state has regained more than 194,900 jobs since the pandemic began.

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