An advocate for the food and hospitality industry in Maryland is increasing pressure on Montgomery County to loosen control over indoor dining restrictions.
A supporter of the food and hospitality industry in Maryland is increasing pressure on Montgomery County to loosen control over indoor dining restrictions.
The Restaurant Association of Maryland, or RAM, is calling the county after Prince George County has decided to join other jurisdictions, allowing 25% of the capacity for indoor dining. DC and Baltimore also lifted their own bans last week.
Indoor dining in Montgomery County has been banned since December 10.
“Montgomery County is now on an island by itself,” the association’s president and CEO Marshall Weston told WTOP.
Weston cites falling COVID-19 metrics in Montgomery County, such as the positivity rate, which currently stands at 6.6%, according to the RAM press release. The statement also notes that Prince George’s positivity rate is higher, 9.6%.
“When you really look at all the metrics that Montgomery County claims to be looking at, we see good news and good signs,” said Weston.
But Montgomery County’s COVID-19 panel cites what it classifies as “very high transmission risk” data, such as the average seven-day number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
On January 25, the number was 35.4.
Weston believes that there are other more beautiful county metrics, such as the drop in hospitalizations and that the number of cases has dropped “in double digits in the past two weeks”.
The Montgomery County panel reported 460 new cases daily on January 11, compared with 400 exactly two weeks later, on January 25.
Weston believes that restaurants are not the problem for spreading COVID-19, but they may be part of the solution.
“Because restaurants continue to offer a safe and regulated space for people to gather, and without a place to go, like restaurants, people continue to have parties and gather in their own homes, which we know for sure is the cause COVID-19 Propagation Number 1, ”said Weston.
Weston was asked about some general reasoning behind the ban on indoor dining for security reasons and amid the new variants of COVID-19.
“These sound like reasons that come from people who are getting a paycheck,” said Weston
The WTOP contacted Montgomery County for a response to the association’s report.
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