Today Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that effective Friday, March 12, at 5 p.m., the state will be “easing certain [Covid] mitigation strategies.” Among the changes: Capacity limits will be lifted for restaurants, retail businesses, religious facilities, fitness centers, casinos, personal services, and indoor recreational establishments. Large outdoor and indoor venues—including wedding venues—may begin operating at 50 percent capacity. According to the press release from the mayor’s office, although capacities will be relaxed, “masking, physical distancing, and other safety protocols will remain in place.” The rules may vary by county—individual jurisdictions will continue to have the power to enforce more restrictive capacities, but, as Washingtonian reported earlier, Hogan encouraged jurisdictions to “get in line” with the state’s guidance to avoid a “confusing patchwork of changing rules.” Local wedding industry professionals had been calling for updated guidelines via social media for weeks, as the limit for social gatherings (10 people indoors and 25 outdoors) had not been updated since last year. Read the full executive order here.
With sustained vaccine progress and significant improvements in our key COVID-19 metrics, today I announced that we will be easing certain mitigation measures in our state.
Details: https://t.co/mG00tkGAfy pic.twitter.com/0erIVqaLUL
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) March 9, 2021
Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.
