No timetable yet for other health care workers, nursing homes
December 16, 2020 | 6:32 pm
December 18, 2020
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It could take up to six weeks to administer a new COVID-19 vaccine to all employees at hospitals in Montgomery County, according to the county’s top health official.
During a media briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, estimated that the county’s larger hospitals will receive around 1,800 to 2,000 doses each of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses to be administered, three weeks apart.
“As the doses currently stand, you’re looking at about a four- to six-week timeline for the entirety of those systems to get coverage,” Gayles said, adding that officials hope that production increases, so that vaccine distributions can increase.
State board approves $250M Purple Line settlement
Initial claims from project contractors totaled $800M
December 16, 2020 | 9:31 pm
December 18, 2020
Maryland is moving on from the legal feud and litigation over cost overruns and delays with the Purple Line light rail project with a settlement of $250 million.
The payment is part of the litigation settlement with the project’s contractors and will allow the state to pursue a new design-build contractor to continue the public-private partnership (P3).
Gov. Larry Hogan said the payment was worthwhile to keep the project moving, considering the contractor’s insistence on being paid $800 million to cover cost overruns.
Council also approves changes for indoor sports, religious institutions
December 15, 2020 | 3:24 pm
December 18, 2020
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Restaurants will once again be limited to outdoor dining, carryout and delivery to help them survive during the pandemic, as winter weather rolls into Montgomery County.
To slow the rapidly increasing spread of COVID-19, the County Council on Tuesday unanimously approved more restrictions, starting at 5 p.m.
Restaurants will have to completely close indoor dining. Outdoor dining, carryout, delivery and drive-through services will still be allowed.
Outdoor dining will only be allowed each day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Retail shops will have to reduce their capacity to a maximum of one person per 200 square feet of retail space, with a maximum limit of 150 people.
Focus will be on ‘areas at risk of rent escalation’
December 16, 2020 | 10:54 am
December 18, 2020
A proposed Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund was introduced at the council’s meeting on Tuesday.
The money would address the “urgent challenge of preservation and development of affordable housing in areas at risk of rent escalation to higher market rents, including the Purple Line Corridor and other County transit corridors,” County Executive Marc Elrich wrote in a letter to Council President Tom Hucker on Dec. 4.
The county has had a “severe” affordable housing shortage and has to leverage private investment to produce dedicated affordable housing, he wrote.
Council also considering bills on mercury regulators, rental discrimination
December 10, 2020 | 5:10 pm
December 18, 2020
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About two months after a 2-year-old boy died after falling from a third-floor apartment window in Takoma Park, the Montgomery County Council is considering a requirement for landlords to install window guards in all apartments with children up to age 10.
Under the bill, landlords would also have to install the guards at a tenant’s request and include the window guard requirements within a lease or an addendum to the lease.
The cost of the installation and maintenance of the window guards could not be charged to tenants.