Montgomery Community Media

With only 2.6 new cases of COVID-19 out of 100,000 people recorded Tuesday and a test positivity rate of less than one percent, Montgomery County continues to move forward in its recovery. During a news briefing Wednesday, Executive Marc Elrich said that hiring to fill vacant county jobs is beginning again. “We are beginning to […]

As part of Montgomery County’s latest coronavirus executive order that went into effect Dec. 15, large retail establishments are required to receive county approval by Dec. 23 in order to operate with more than 150 people in their establishments. To receive approval, businesses will need to submit a request for a Letter of Approval—via the […]

Following the holidays, Montgomery County’s hospital could see a surge in patients, causing hospitalization rates to be elevated. Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles and Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Earl Stoddard explained Wednesday what hospitals in Montgomery County and across the region are doing to free up space: Related Post: […]

At a press briefing on Dec. 16, Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles said the Pfizer vaccine should be arriving at all hospitals in the county Wednesday or Thursday. He added that the vaccine doses will also be distributed to pharmacies, which will work to get the doses out to nursing homes and long-term […]

Three out of six hospitals in Montgomery County have no ICU vacancy as of noon Tuesday, County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles said at a county council meeting. Also as of noon, one hospital has no acute care bed vacancy, he said. Gayles said there was a period of time over the weekend when five […]

Montgomery County’s Late-Night Alcohol Sales Program will be suspended Friday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. The program allowed some restaurants and bars to serve alcohol for on-premise drinking until midnight instead of 10 p.m., if they met certain public health and safety criteria. It went into effect Oct. 1, but after meeting two metrics for […]

Although Montgomery County has met one of the criteria that requires suspending its Late-Night Alcohol Sales Program, it is not yet planning on doing so. “By the definition we have met at least one of the criteria to suspend that program,” Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Dr. Earl Stoddard said at a […]

In early August, Montgomery County mandated that restaurants and bars can not sell alcohol for on-premise consumption after 10 p.m. Now the county is considering letting establishments extend that to midnight if they agree to certain guidelines.  The directive went into effect Aug. 5 after Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Dr. Earl […]

With a socially distant Halloween looming, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its holiday celebration guidelines Monday, ranking Halloween activities that pose low, moderate, and high risks. The CDC says traditional activities, including door to door trick-or-treating and trunk-or-treating, top the list as high risk and recommends avoiding them. Doing so will […]

Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles has said more than once that the county has not reached even a moderate rate of COVID-19 transmission.  In early August he said a moderate rate would be around 20-30 new cases per day and on Sept. 4 he said it would be around 30-35 new cases. Gayles […]