County Executive Pittman Announces Additional Stage Two Reopening Actions

The following is the announcement regarding stage two plans from Anne Arundel County from their website.

"Anne Arundel County will align with state guidance on outdoor amusements and limited indoor seating for restaurants

Annapolis, Md. (June 10, 2020) County Executive Pittman announced today that Anne Arundel County will implement additional Stage 2 reopenings on Friday, June 12 at 5:00 p.m., in line with Governor Larry Hogan’s latest executive order. At that time, county restaurants may begin offering limited indoor seating up to 50% capacity with strict safety precautions in place. Outdoor amusements and rides, including miniature golf and go-kart tracks, may also resume under state guidance.

To address concerns that state reopening actions are happening too quickly, County Executive Pittman and county Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman announced that Anne Arundel County will put an additional layer of precautions onto some of the reopening actions. This includes a requirement for face coverings for employees and customers in retail businesses and inside restaurants. 

County Executive Pittman released the following statement:

“Moving forward at this pace carries some risk, but the confusion created by separate rules from the state and local jurisdictions does not work from a planning or a public health perspective. We must all be in this together.

Our ability to keep our numbers declining now depends on strict adherence to best practices by our businesses, and careful distancing and face covering by our residents. With government restrictions being relaxed, it is time for us as individuals to complete the work we started. Let’s isolate this virus.”

County Executive Pittman made his announcement after reviewing Governor Hogan's latest executive order and guidance and consulting with health officials, his county attorney, and his COVID-19 recovery work group. The County Executive will sign an executive order tomorrow before 5:00 p.m. to enable these new reopening actions. 

Anne Arundel County intends to follow state reopenings for indoor fitness facilities, casinos, arcades and malls on June 19, consistent with Governor Hogan’s order. Also on that date, the county will reopen restrooms and playgrounds in county parks.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health maintains a reopening dashboard to track public health measures that influence policy decisions. Other resources and information is available on the county’s road to recovery webpage.

Anne Arundel County Further Stage One Re Opening Guidelines

Anne Arunedl County Executive Steuart Pittman has released further stage one re opening guidelines.

The guidelines appear to bring AA County more in line with the state phase one guidelines starting at 5pm tonight (5/29/2020).

A PDF regarding the specifics for restaurant guidelines can be found using the following link:

RESTAURANT GUIDELINES

Below is the press release provided to the PBA:

County Executive Pittman Announces Further Stage One Reopenings 

Annapolis, Md. (May 28, 2020) Today, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced that restaurants and bars can open for outdoor seating service on Friday, May 29 at 5:00 p.m. under state guidelines. He also advanced the date for the opening of retail businesses to coincide with restaurants. The announcements come after County Executive Pittman consulted with health officials and his recovery workgroup, which includes health, business, and faith leaders, as well as two members of the County Council.

County Executive Pittman will sign two executive orders tomorrow before 5:00 p.m. to put these new policies in place.

"I am able to make these announcements today because our public health recovery metrics have improved, and our staff has delivered the regulatory changes needed to move forward more quickly than expected," said County Executive Pittman. "We are able to move from the blunt tools of shutdown to the sharper tools of testing, contact tracing, and innovative safety measures that our businesses have developed."

County Executive Pittman will put these changes into the context of the long-term pandemic response tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at the county Emergency Operations Center in Glen Burnie. He will be joined by Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Police Chief Timothy Altomare, and the new Director of Emergency Management Preeti Emrick.

The specific actions announced today are:

Beginning Friday, May 29 at 5 p.m.:

Non-essential businesses that are currently operating under curbside pickup only are able to open to customers. The maximum number of occupants (customers and employees) will be calculated based on 150 square feet per person. Businesses will be required to have protective measures in place regarding physical distancing and face coverings will be required for everyone in the store. Specific details and guidance are available on the county's  Road to Recovery web page.

Foodservice establishments, which include restaurants, bars, and social clubs with dining facilities, may serve food and beverages for consumption in outdoor seating areas in accordance with state guidance. The county Office of Planning and Zoning will authorize outdoor seating for food and beverage service uses as a temporary use for up to 180 days, until or unless the emergency is lifted or revised by Executive Order. A permit application is not required for this temporary use, if it complies with specific criteria. Specific details and guidance are available on the county's  Road to Recovery web page.

Barbers and beauty salons may open for hair services only. The maximum number of occupants will be calculated based on 100 gross square feet per person due to the small footprint of many facilities and the necessity of closer personal interaction in order for services to be provided. Specific details and guidance are available on the county's  Road to Recovery web page.

Additional Recreation and Parks amenities will open:

• Dog parks
• Dog beaches
• County park beaches
• Pavilions (reservations required)

Private youth camps are allowed to open under state guidance.

Swimming at county or community beaches is no longer prohibited, but swimmers are advised that no routine bacteria testing has been conducted. Swimmers swim at their own risk until water quality monitoring can resume. 

Beginning June 1 at 8:00 a.m.:

Additional Recreation and Parks amenities will open:

• Athletic fields for youth skills training only - no organized activities (usual field permitting for accredited organizations is required) 
• Basketball courts

Beginning June 5:

Beginning June 5, seasonal outdoor pools will be inspected on a rolling basis. Pools can open once they are approved. Seasonal outdoor pools are inspected each spring prior to their opening and this year those inspections were postponed due to the suspension of all non-essential activity. 

Beginning July 6:

• Modified county outdoor day camps begin (camps will be limited to 10, 8 children and 2 staff)
• Registration will begin June 11
• Traditional Camps are cancelled
• Speciality Camps are delayed to July/August

No additional actions are being announced with regard to houses of worship and religious institutions at this time. They remain opened for up to 10 people at a time for individual ministry. County Executive Pittman met with more than 50 pastors and faith leaders today and is working towards a plan to safely expand the capacity allowed in our houses of worship.

The following remain closed until further notice:

• Senior Centers
• Fitness Centers 
• Movie Theaters (including "pop-up" drive-in theaters) 
• Shopping Malls 
• Nail Salons
• Playgrounds
• County park visitors centers
• County park restrooms
• Indoor aquatic centers
• Recreation centers

More information found on the county website:  https://www.aacounty.org/coronavirus/road-to-recovery/index.html

The PBA received the following release froM County Executive Pittman's office.

Annapolis, Md. (May 22, 2020) Today, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced new measures the county intends to take to begin the process of opening barber shops, beauty salons and other "non-essential" retail businesses on June 1. The County Executive's announcement comes after two meetings of his recovery work group, discussions with county health officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, and input from other business and community leaders.

Anne Arundel County will become the first Maryland county to set maximum occupancy for non-essential retail businesses based on gross square footage, which has a direct relationship to safe social distancing requirements. The Phase One reopening actions announced today remain contingent on continued progress on public health metrics.

"This action allows small businesses to operate and people to get back to work, while limiting the potential spread of the virus," said County Executive Pittman. "We all want this to succeed, so I am confident that our business owners, employees, and customers will comply with safety guidelines and help our county businesses reopen responsibly."

Non-essential businesses are currently operating under county Executive Order #21, which allows curbside pickup only. Beginning June 1, these businesses will be allowed to open to customers. The maximum number of occupants (customers and employees) will be calculated based on 150 square feet per person. Businesses will be required to have protective measures in place regarding physical distancing and face coverings will be required for everyone in the store. Specific details and guidance are being prepared by the county Department of Health and will be released next week.

CDC guidelines recommend social distancing that results in six feet between people. The area of a six foot circle around one person is approximately 113 square feet. The 150 square foot area for non-essential retail businesses represents a reasonable margin of safety since employees and customers move throughout the store and are not spaced equally at all times.

Barbers and beauty salons are currently open for hair services only, but limited to one customer per establishment. Beginning June 1, the maximum number of occupants will be calculated based on 100 gross square feet per person due to the small footprint of many facilities and the necessity of closer personal interaction in order for services to be provided. Additional guidance and precautionary measures will be provided by the Department of Health next week.

More information found on the county website:  https://www.aacounty.org/coronavirus/road-to-recovery/index.html

COVID-19 Resources

Letter To County Executive Pittman From PBA President Brian Conrad

Dear Executive Pittman

On behalf of the over 200 members and businesses of the Pasadena Business Association, I am writing to formally express our displeasure and concern with your recent decision to not follow the Governor’s phase one role out.

Anne Arundel County is one of the least hit and lowest affected counties in our state.  We are not one of the more densely populated places such as Baltimore County or Baltimore City, and we do not have the illnesses or cases of the virus that our neighbor Prince George’s County is experiencing.  Additionally, our county is home to the state capital and we should be leading by example out of this restrictive environment, not further hindering and slowing its recovery.

There is no reason Anne Arundel County cannot follow state guidelines.  If we can safely enter stores such as Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart, 

we can certainly do the same, and in many cases much more safely, in smaller locations which have been more hardly hit by these overreaching restrictions.

Many businesses have spent time and money complying with the Governor’s outlined recommendations which he delivered on Wednesday (5/13/2020), only for you to turn around and cancel those plans with your restrictions 24 hours later (5/14/2020).  Our small businesses and their families are being devastated every day they are not allowed to open.

When you spoke to our membership at our town hall meeting just before your election, you portrayed yourself as an advocate for small business.  It is time for you to live up to that portrayal and support small business and their families.

The members and businesses of the Pasadena Business Association respectfully disagree with your measures and strongly urge you to adjust your guidelines to follow those of our governor.

Sincerely yours,

Brian M. Conrad, President, Pasadena Business Association

This is what we received from County Executive Pittman's office regarding a PPE grant being offered by the county.

It is a nice gesture that are providing assistance in re opening.  But it would be even greater gesture if he actually allowed the businesses to re open.  Our member businesses that were forced to shut down have had over 8 weeks to prepare for re opening and most are prepared and ready to move forward with a safe re opening plan. 

Below is press release information on the grant.  #PBAShopLocal

"Today Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced the Small Business Customer and Employee Protection Grant Program, which is designed to assist local businesses purchase products and services needed for safe reopening in compliance with COVID-19 regulations. The program is supported with $ 5 million from the county's allotment of funding from the federal CARES Act and will be managed by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation (AAEDC). 

"Local government will never have the resources to prevent the economic disruptions brought on by this pandemic, but we can step in to help small local businesses meet the challenges they face in protecting both their customers and their employees from COVID-19." said County Executive Pittman. "This program not only helps our small businesses to reopen safely, but it allows them to implement best practices that will serve the future public health needs of our county." 

Through the program, a small business, particularly minority, women and veteran owned businesses, within the county or the City of Annapolis can apply for a grant of up to $10,000 to cover the cost of the following purchases: 

● PPE for employees 

● Protective shields/dividers 

● Sanitation products and services such as: 

o Disinfection UV lamps 

o Biocide/mold bomb foggers 

● Digital signage and floor/wall/window graphics 

● Technology (hardware, software, applications, online platforms) for the purposes of: 

o Wellness scans 

o Virtual meetings 

o Business website upgrades 

o Customer communications and marketing 

o E-commerce 

● Delivery vehicles and equipment 

● Professional consultation services such as legal and human resources experts to understand compliance regulations 

● Workforce training to help employees understand and act on compliance best practices 

The grant may be used as a reimbursement for eligible past purchases made after March 29, 2020. Businesses will be required to submit invoices to demonstrate proof of purchases. 

To be eligible for the program, an entity must be an Anne Arundel County based for-profit business with 50 or less employees and must be in good standing with the State of Maryland.

Applicants will be required to submit a budget detailing purchases and vendors as well as financial documents such as business tax returns, Schedule C, or a profit and loss statement. 

Preference for funds will be given to industries most directly affected by local/state/national quarantine rules. 

AAEDC is currently developing a portal on its website where businesses can create an account and complete the entire application process. To be notified of when the online application is available, interested businesses should get on AAEDC's notification list by sending an email to grants@aaedc.org.

Additional details such as application FAQs, industry safety guidelines and a list of local vendors are available on the GRANT PROGRAM PAGE"

PBA Directory Listing ProofS

Hello PBA members.  

It is once again the time of year to verify your listing information.  Sandy has once again worked diligently to put together the directory.  The alphabetical, cross reference and categorical listings are ready for your review. 

Normally, we would have these ready to review at our May membership meeting, but COVID-19 has prevented us from doing so this year.  

Please click the buttons below to go to the PDF of the listing as will appear in the directory.  If you have any changes to make, please email Sandi at pasadenabusinessassociation1@verizon.net ASAP. 

The information has already been pulled from the website, so if a change needs to be made, please email Sandi as well as updating your listing on the website.

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY ALPHA LISTING HERE   

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY CROSS REFERENCE LISTING HERE

CHECK YOUR PBA DIRECTORY CATEGORY LISTING HERE

The printed directory is one of the many valuable benefits of being a PBA member.   The directory finds its way into thousands of businesses and homes in the Pasadena area.  

It is more important now than ever to make sure that your business gets exposure to our community.  

The PBA is proud to be able to still provide our members with this valuable benefit of a printed directory.

Hogan Announces Plans For Reopening Being Made

I hope everyone is doing okay and holding up well through this madness. The Kipkes have enjoyed the quality time together but like everyone it's been very tough in other ways. My assistant Emily and I have been fielding scores of requests for help from constituents seeking assistance navigating unemployment insurance and from local businesses navigating the loans and grants to help them avoid bankruptcy. It's been an incredibly stressful time.

Governor Hogan announced that next week he will lay out plans for reopening Maryland's economy.  This is welcome news as Marylanders are suffering on many levels, especially financially. On Thursday along with other legislators I spent several hours discussing ideas and concerns by teleconference with the administration and on Friday I spoke directly with the Governor by phone discussing how we can safely begin to lift or ease restrictions.

Thursday evening the Trump administration also released guidelines for Governors to use as they make plans to reopen their states.  

Here are the Trump Administration guidelines to begin reopening:

(The entire plan can be seen here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/)

A key trigger in lifting restrictions in Trump's plan is a 14 day decrease in symptoms, cases, and hospitalizations.  You should know that Maryland is still seeing single day deaths and hospitalizations increase, in fact we saw our deadliest two days so far earlier this week.  However, the numbers so far do not show sharp increases like what was predicted. This gives us hope that the spread has slowed to a level, through everyone's sacrifices, that it bought us the time to acquire the supplies necessary to save lives and prevent intensive care units from being overrun beyond capacity.  It also gives us hope that we are near the peak and we may be about to see the decline in numbers that we are all praying for.  Here are yesterday's COVID-19 statistics:

COVID-19 Statistics in Maryland 04/18/2020

Number of Confirmed Cases: 12,308
+736 cases in last 24 hours

Saturday's numbers of people currently hospitalized for COVID is 1,288, including 488 in ICU. That's a 7.2% increase over the prior day.

Number of negative test results: 53,062
+2,625 in last 24 hours

Number of Deaths: 463
+38 in last 24 hours

Number of Probable Deaths: 71
+2 in last 24 hours

Hospitalizations: 2,757 ever hospitalized
+145 in last 24 hours

Released From Isolation: 771
+35 in last 24 hours

More information available at: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

After the teleconference with the Governor and his administration, we sent to him the memo below that outlines some of the ideas we presented about safely easing restrictions and reopening the economy.  For example, I encouraged him to ease the restriction on recreational boating. I can understand not allowing a "bumper bash" right now but a family should be allowed to use their boat following safe social distancing guidelines. It would be good for their physical and mental health and also support the economy. In my opinion, businesses who can operate within CDC guidelines should be allowed to operate at least in areas of the state where they have little or no active COVID-19 cases as long as that business is not a magnet for out of area tourism. We can't just shut everything down indefinitely, so some sensible consideration needs to be made to responsibly begin easing restrictions soon.  There are many right now who are saying to just open everything up now but not even President Trump supports that and his guidelines would not allow for it. However, steps can be taken now to safely ease restrictions week by week to ultimately get our economy open and return to a more normal way of life.   

I welcome your thoughts on the situation and I am available to you should you need any assistance. Be well and healthy!  

Sincerely,

Delegate Nic Kipke

Face coverings are required for retail shopping beginning April 15th.

We just received notice from county executive Steuart Pittman's office that beginning April 15th, face masks will be required by customers and employees of retail shopping establishments.  

The press Release is below.

Office of the County Executive

Steuart Pittman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: 

Chris Trumbauer, Office of the County Executive, ctrumbauer@aacounty.org, 410-279-7577

Elin Jones, Anne Arundel County Department of Health, hdjones@aacounty.org, 410-570-2106

 

Anne Arundel County Requires Retail Shoppers and Employees to Wear Masks to Prevent Spread of COVID-19. 

Annapolis, MD (April 14, 2020) County Executive Steuart Pittman and Anne Arundel Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman jointly announced today an Order for Public Safety that requires shoppers to wear face coverings in retail stores beginning Wednesday, April 15. Similarly, employees of retail stores will be required to wear face coverings when in any area of the establishment where they are likely to come in contact with coworkers or the public. 

“Our most effective tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is for each of us to act as though we are carriers of the virus, because we could be,” said County Executive Pittman. “Face coverings in retail businesses by both shoppers and staff will save lives. I fully support Dr. Kalyanaraman’s decision to require this protection.”

The order was signed by Dr. Kalyanaraman, acting on the authority granted to him as county health officer by Governor Larry Hogan’s April 5th executive order. It affects all retail establishments allowed to remain open as essential businesses under the Governor’s stay at home order of March 30. The order does not apply to children under 2 years old or those who could not wear a mask without inhibiting their health. Face coverings may be made of cloth or other materials and need not be surgical grade masks such as N95 masks, which should be reserved for health workers.

“Masks protect you and those around you,” said Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman. “It’s an important way each of us can slow the spread of the virus.”

In addition to the face covering requirements, the order also requires retail businesses to:

• limit customer capacity
•  to 50% of normal capacity;
• maintain six feet
•  between customers in checkout lines;
• make aisles one-way
•  wherever possible;
• clearly mark social
•  distancing restrictions, including six-foot separations and one-way requirements, on the floor;
• provide access to
•  sanitary restrooms and soap and or hand sanitizer for customers and workers; 
• discontinue all self-service
•  food counters; and
• the installation
•  of a physical barrier or shield (e.g., clear Plexiglas or heavy plastic sheeting) between cashiers and customers is highly encouraged.

Any complaints or violations of this order will be investigated by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. Violations are subject to a maximum $500 fine. The department has the authority to issue closure orders to businesses who violate this policy if necessary, but Dr. Kalyanaraman has indicated it will first issue warnings. 

The Order for Public Safety is available on the county website: https://aahealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Health-Officer-Order-Face-Coverings.pdf  

For up-to-date information and guidance about COVID-19, visit www.aahealth.org/coronavirus. For general questions about the disease, residents are encouraged to call 2-1-1 or the COVID-19 phone line at 410-222-7256. For non-health related questions, call 410-222-0600.  Individuals concerned about medical information should call their healthcare provider. 

CARES ACT BRINGS THE Paycheck Protection Program To help Your Business

Beginning today, April 3rd, small businesses are eligible to start applying for the Paycheck Protection Program loans.

These loans are designed to help small businesses with their payroll related expenses.  Details for the program can be found on the US Treasury Website at: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/top-priorities/cares-act/assistance-for-small-businesses

You business could be eligible to borrow up to two and a half months worth of payroll expenses and then have that loan fully forgiven if you meet the federal guidelines for the forgiveness. 

The loan is designed to help you either keep existing staff on your payroll or hire them back by the current deadline of June 30th.  Below are informational documents and the application to give to your bank.  

Documents:

• Paycheck Protection Program Application
• Paycheck Protection Program Fact Sheet
• Paycheck Protection Program Overview
  
• Coronavirus Emergency Loans Small Business Guide

Please reach out to your lender to see if they are going to be an approved lender for this program.  Your lender may require that you have a business relationship with the m to facilitate the loan.

Please keep following the PBA blog as we will make additional posts as information becomes available to help the Pasadena business community.

Thank you to our local small businesses for all you do.  We could not be a community without you!