Some Montgomery County businesses close, gym confirms member has coronavirus

The first coronavirus-related business closures in Montgomery County have occurred. The Apple Stores at Bethesda Row and Westfield Montgomery Mall have closed until March 27, 2020. Apple is closing all of its stores outside of China until that date. Mynd Spa & Salon at Pike & Rose announced at the close of business last night that it would close indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While those businesses closed to avoid employees and customers contracting covid-19, upscale gym Equinox in Bethesda already had a member who did. WUSA-9 reported that the Bethesda Row fitness facility confirmed a member tested positive for coronavirus after last working out there on March 9. Some employees and members of the gym expressed anxiety over its decision not to temporarily close, and WUSA-9 cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that suggest a 24-hour closure is needed before an exposure site can be disinfected.

Mall operator Westfield released identical statements regarding its Montgomery Mall and Wheaton Plaza properties Saturday. Westfield stressed that both retail centers remain open, but that it will allow individual tenants to change hours or close as needed to protect their staff and patrons. The company added that the open status of the mall could change if the CDC or government authorities request such gathering places be closed.

President Trump announced he tested negative for coronavirus on Saturday. The United Kingdom announced citizens 70 and older would be asked to self-isolate in the near future, but Maryland Larry Hogan had long ago recommended Marylanders 60 and older do just that to avoid exposure to the virus.

Some of the business closures appear to be driven by the same magical thinking of local politicians that schools would somehow be able to reopen in only two weeks. That will almost certainly not be the case. Testing locally and nationally remains inadequate, and as a result, we have no true sense of how far and how rapidly covid-19 has spread in our county and region yet. But no credible medical professional believes this will blow over in two weeks. "I'm not an epidemiologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night."

Coronavirus slashes Metro ridership, Montgomery County restaurant/retail patronage

MoCo Council, Rockville leaders 

wall themselves off from public 

as COVID-19 spreads

Ridership of the Metro subway system and patronage of Montgomery County businesses plunged Thursday and yesterday, according to data from Google. As the week ended, the Montgomery County Council voted to bar the public from their building. The Council will continue to legislate and hold meetings, but their constituents will not be allowed to enter the Council building, sit in on those meetings or testify at public hearings. A long-held fantasy of the Montgomery County political cartel has now come true - citizens may now only email comments, meaning feedback will have virtually no public impact or reach to galvanize any resistance to Council moves.

The City of Rockville did the same, also barring the public from City Hall, meetings and public hearings. Gaithersburg canceled Mayor & Council work sessions, and meetings of other city bodies like the Planning Commission. Gaithersburg leaders did not officially bar the public from City Hall or their meetings, but are encouraging citizens to email comments and rely on live tweets from what will be streamlined Mayor & Council meetings on only the most pertinent city business for the time being.

Federal and state governments have not yet taken the likely most-effective step of closing all businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies, unlike some other countries. But many people are - wisely - staying in their homes anyway as much as possible.

Google data shows Metro ridership (pink)
during Thursday, Friday evening rush
was a fraction of what it usually is

Google real-time data showed Metro ridership on the Red Line at the Bethesda station was not even half of the average for Thursday and Friday evening rush hours. The Google data also showed patronage of restaurants and retail centers continuing the dramatic slide first reported here earlier this week.

Woodmont Grill, which has the largest volume of sales of any downtown Bethesda restaurant according to industry insiders, seemed the least hurt of any Montgomery County dining establishment. But patronage at Red Robin in Germantown was less than half what it would usually be on a Friday evening at dinnertime, according to Google's real-time count.

A decline in traffic at Red Robin,
combined with heavy sales of hamburger
buns at local stores, suggests more
burgers are being consumed at home

Traffic at Westfield Montgomery Mall was down about half last evening according to Google. Ellsworth Place mall in downtown Silver Spring was faring better, with traffic only down about a third. Silver Spring seemed to be slightly more insulated from the coronavirus panic, as even the Regal Majestic IMAX cineplex was still mustering about a 60% turnout - much better than the scenes of empty movie palaces being shared by brave moviegoers on social media Friday night.

Officials are protecting themselves, but whistling past the graveyard in not taking further steps to stop the spread of coronavirus. Because so many have not been tested, and because the precise nature and scope of the virus' spread in the region is not yet clear, these same officials will likely be caught short by next week when the total number of infected residents could well skyrocket. The general consensus of the Montgomery County cartel that this will somehow be a "two week" pandemic is almost certifiably nuts, as was the Maryland House voting to ban plastic bags in the midst of a world health catastrophe. This is the last time you would want people reusing dirty bags in public places or their own homes.

To add insult to injury, just as homebound residents turn even more heavily to streaming services like Netflix for some diversion, our corrupt elected officials quietly moved their Netflix tax forward. If passed - and if Gov. Larry Hogan's veto is overturned, Montgomery County residents would have to pay a tax on each of the many streaming services they subscribe to.

Some of our elected officials need professional help, folks. Or at least a clue.

Montgomery County Public Schools to close for 2 weeks as coronavirus panic peaks

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan ordered all
schools in the state to close for 2 weeks
starting Monday, March 16 for coronavirus

"Don't make me come back there." Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan finally pulled the car over and went back there, making the executive decision to close all Maryland public schools for two weeks beginning Monday, March 16, 2020, as Montgomery County Public Schools leaders continued to drag their feet amidst growing panic over the coronavirus. Ultimately, Hogan had to act, as school officials who see their system as its own government body and social services agency were frozen by political concerns.

"How do we indoctrinate kids ideologically, if they're at home?! How do we ever have a snow day again, once it's proven we can teleteach kids over the computer at home? What if, after two weeks or two months of no school, taxpayers realize we aren't actually doing all that much with the multi-billions of dollars MoCo taxpayers are forced to fork over to us annually?"

Those and other political questions will now actually be contemplated and answered by residents over the next two weeks. But residents, a majority of whom don't even have kids in MCPS, have other pressing matters on their mind. Child care and paper goods were chief among them Thursday.

Hoarding hordes gave the county's empty paper goods aisle another ransacking for good measure Thursday evening. Perhaps there were invisible rolls that the rest of us had missed. Even Walmart's online toilet paper supply ran out as America faces a pandemic with no end in sight, and a potential total collapse of a national economy that was booming for many just a couple of weeks ago.

Hogan on Thursday banned gatherings of more than 250 people, even as event cancellations flooded the news and email boxes. He deployed the National Guard. The Republican governor also announced the first case of community transition of the covid-19 virus in Maryland.

As the nation inched closer to martial law and a total lockdown similar to Italy, local businesses began to take to social media to make clear they were still open, and taking proactive steps to protect customers and employees from the virus. Brickside Food & Drink in Bethesda announced it would temporarily suspend lunch service beginning March 18, and now open at 3:00 PM on weekdays, while stepping up its cleaning regimen to regularly disinfect surfaces. The restaurant said it would continue to maintain its regular nighttime and weekend brunch hours, still opening at 11:00 AM on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Brickside is even revising its menu, and emphasizing its home delivery options, the latter a recurring theme among many restaurant social media posts yesterday. "We promise not to hug you, but we'll be thrilled to see you," Chef Geoff Tracy joked in an otherwise-serious post from his Chevy Chase restaurant Lia's that emphasized the heavy impact a drop in customers would have on his employees. He, too, emphasized the option of DoorDash delivery. Owen's Ordinary at Pike & Rose said something a lot of diners would like to hear more of - that they will be sending home any staff member who is showing symptoms of illness. 

Small, independent coffee shops took a cue from Starbucks and banned the practice of allowing customers to bring their old cups in to be used for a fresh drink. Clove & Cedar Coffeebar on St. Elmo Avenue in Bethesda said they would temporarily halt the practice as Starbucks has, while continuing to use compostable paper goods. Saints Row in Rockville announced they would suspend filling growlers brought in by patrons, and more frequently disinfect the brewery's public areas. Silver Spring's Astro Lab Brewing said late Thursday night that they were ramping up canning operations in case they need to switch to offering to-go options only.

With all major movie releases being postponed, schools and universities shutting their doors, and the entire sports world shutting down indefinitely, America is a nation about to go into hibernation. It's unclear what the magic number of "two weeks" means in the real world. Unless the virus proves to be seasonal, retreating until the fall or winter, there's no end in sight for coronavirus. 

Starbucks warns of changes ahead as coronavirus panic accelerates

You could see coronavirus-related changes at your favorite Starbucks in the coming days and weeks - assuming American businesses remain open that long. Shortly after the Italian government shuttered all of that nation's businesses besides grocery stores and banks, and the governor of New York called in the National Guard to oversee a coronavirus "containment zone" in New Rochelle, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson emailed a personal letter to customers.

The coffee chain recently admitted what I said all along - that refilling dirty cups brought in by customers, and having them handled by the same people preparing your drinks, is unsanitary and a heightened risk to spread disease like the coronavirus - and axed that disgusting policy for now. Now Starbucks may go further. Johnson said that, based on the rapidly evolving situation, you might find your neighborhood Starbucks store only serving customers by delivery and mobile pick-up orders.

Stores that remain fully open could limit the number of customers seated inside, to facilitate "social distance" protocols. If the store has a drive-thru, that might alternatively be the only way to make an order. In the worst-case scenario, Johnson wrote, "we will close a store if we feel it is in the best interest of our customers and partners, or if we are directed to do so by government authorities. In any such situation, we expect store disruption to be temporary."

Johnson also added that the company is also watching out for its employees. Starbucks is now expanding catastrophe pay to cover employees who must miss work due to contraction of, or exposure to, covid-19.

MoCo Humane Society has urgent need for hard-to-find items in coronavirus panic buying

Rocky and his fellow adoptable friends at the Montgomery County Humane Society in Rockville need your help. Humans have cleared the shelves of hand sanitizer, hand soap, bleach, Clorox wipes, toilet paper and wet and dry puppy food in coronavirus-related shopping. The society is "urgently" asking residents who can donate these supplies, along with sheets and blankets, to bring them to their headquarters at 601 S. Stonestreet Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850 between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM seven days a week.

Target now rationing coronavirus items

Target has begun rationing items high in demand by customers during the coronavirus outbreak. Products like disinfecting wipes, paper goods and bottled water have been flying off shelves nationwide since Americans began coming down with the covid-19 virus. The announcement was buried within a longer statement regarding new cleaning procedures for stores, and other strategies the big box retailer is implementing to reduce the spread of the virus.

Other retailers have also begun rationing supplies they say consumers are hoarding, including Wegmans and Kroger. But Target's biggest rival, Walmart, has yet to announce it will ration goods.

Target CEO Brian Cornell wrote that stores are adding paid hours to allow employees to clean surfaces and equipment like check-outs more frequently. Touchscreens and check-out surfaces will be cleaned every 30 minutes, Cornell promised. They have temporarily suspended food sampling in stores, and are staffing up to meet greater demand for curbside pick-up. Target is also reducing all non-essential corporate and employee travel.

4 Montgomery County coronavirus cases confirmed, as businesses adjust to new abnormal

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the White House
Situation Room with Vice-President Mike Pence

MCPS knocks down rumor of

Richard Montgomery HS student

testing positive for covid-19 as

Hogan warns seniors: "stay home"

The number of Montgomery County residents exposed to the coronavirus is steadily growing, but the actual number of confirmed cases has so far remained small. Four MoCo residents have tested positive for covid-19 so far. While that leads the state by far, there are now single cases in Harford and Prince George's counties as well.

Giant makes a delivery at
The Chase condos in Bethesda

Montgomery County retailers have already seen traffic falling since the first county residents tested positive for coronavirus. Residents and businesses alike are now adapting to the new abnormal of a society in pandemic crisis. Grocery stores are emphasizing their curbside pickup and delivery services, for example. Drug stores like CVS Pharmacy at 7809 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda, 11190 Veirs Mill Road in Wheaton, 15600 Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, and at Rockville Town Square and 20 Upper Rock Circle in Rockville, offer drive-thru prescription pick-up.

Anglo Dutch Pools & Toys in the Westwood Shopping Center in Bethesda says it is disinfecting surfaces inside the store throughout the day, and keeping hand sanitizer at the counter. For customers who are staying indoors, Anglo Dutch is now offering to bring orders out to customers' cars, in addition to its existing in-store pickup and online delivery options.

Rumors continue to plague Montgomery County Public Schools on social media during the outbreak. Ongoing speculation over potential school closures has even included specific dates, all of which have been smacked down by MCPS, which has stated schools will remain open at this time. One new online rumor about a Richard Montgomery High School student testing positive for covid-19 is also fake news. "We are deeply disappointed that someone would create and distribute misinformation about such an important issue.," RMHS Principal Damon Monteleone said Monday.

While Rockville is the only county "hot spot" for the virus identified by elected officials, only by virtue of an early coronavirus patient who visited and exposed many at the Villages at Rockville retirement community, the city's large Asian community has made those who were pointing discriminatory fingers early on look rather foolish. Not only have none of the county's cases so far been related to China, but there have been no outbreaks at all in our Asian community. As for people claiming coronavirus is a Chinese bioweapon: while the virus could well be man-made, it almost certainly was not engineered by China. It has caused massive damage to the Chinese economy, which was already reeling from its first downturn and contraction in decades under President Trump's trade and tariff policies. Such an outcome is the last thing Chinese leaders would have sought at this time.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan yesterday advised residents over 60, or with compromised immune or respiratory systems, to "stay home as much as possible to avoid large crowds and gatherings"  They are at "a significantly higher risk of contracting the disease with morbidity and mortality rates that are three-to-five times higher," Hogan said. The governor announced he is putting nursing homes on high alert statewide to monitor coronavirus symptoms in patients and staff. Hogan is also assembling a "coronavirus response team," comprised of health and emergency management experts.

Republican Hogan gave Maryland a seat at the table in the GOP White House - literally. The governor was seated at Vice-President Mike Pence's left hand in the Situation Room, as Pence briefed the nation's state leaders on the coronavirus response. While Hogan has feuded with Trump, he and former Indiana governor and GOP peer Pence have a better working relationship, which bodes well for Maryland getting federal coronavirus aid priority. But given the bleak pandemic picture being painted by some, Pence might want to have coffee with former Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who could tell him of the political pitfalls of being made the public face of a challenge like this.

Top photo: Andrea Hanks/The White House

New coronavirus case in Montgomery County as retail traffic falls over virus fears

Rockville students exposed

to covid-19, boosting calls

for MCPS to close schools;

MoCo spooked by mysterious

haze in the sky Sunday

Foot traffic at Montgomery County retail centers has fallen significantly since the jurisdiction's first coronavirus cases were announced late last week. Even before a fourth MoCo covid-19 case was confirmed Sunday by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a spot check of malls and retail properties across the county found lower numbers of shoppers out and about.

Google's live foot traffic measurement
confirmed anecdotal observations of
smaller crowds at MoCo retail centers
since coronavirus panic began

Anecdotal observations of smaller crowds were confirmed using Google's live measurement of foot traffic Sunday. Google's stats (live numbers indicated by red bar) showed foot traffic notably below average at Westfield Montgomery Mall, Bethesda Row, Ellsworth Place, Milestone Shopping Center and Rio Lakefront, to name just a few. The numbers were down even as the area experienced good weather and a temperature over 60 degrees.

Montgomery Mall was "not too busy,"
Google live traffic count declared Sunday;
the red meter shows traffic down more
than a third from usual around 2:00 PM

If fewer residents are putting themselves into public gathering places, they're also increasingly concerned about their children's exposure to coronavirus in the human petri dish network known as school. As rumors surged of a long-term closure starting Monday, Montgomery County Public Schools sent out messages dismissing them, emphasizing that schools will be open as usual Monday.

Google showing foot traffic down
at Bethesda Row Sunday

But it's too late for students at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville. Several students there volunteer at The Villages at Rockville retirement community, the only confirmed MoCo location any of the county's coronavirus patients visited that officials will publicly discuss. Parents there are expressing concern about the potential further exposure of other students if Frost holds classes today. MCPS insists classes are going forward.

One very smart publisher got this
timely magazine onto racks this weekend;
with the U.S. stupidly allowing travelers
exposed to coronavirus to reenter the country
without 14-day quarantine, it's a must read

According to Fox 5, Thomas Wootton High School students may have been exposed as well. Wootton parents have been notified by MCPS and the County Health Department about exposure, the station reports, but did not specify if it was related to Wootton students also having volunteered at the Villages.

Toilet paper panic is not limited to
Montgomery County amid coronavirus,
a scan of YouTube finds

As coronavirus panic continues to intensify, essential items continue to fly off of grocery and drug store shelves countywide. A single 3-pack of Puffs tissues was the only paper good left on the shelves at the Safeway at 5000 Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda late Sunday. Trucks are still delivering, however, as the Westwood Giant in Bethesda had plenty of paper goods on their previously-stripped shelves.

Mysterious haze over
Montgomery County Sunday

The stress of coronavirus had residents on edge when a mysterious haze descended over large areas of the county yesterday afternoon. Was the Deep State spraying us all with coronavirus from high-altitude aircraft? Well, it was the federal government creating the haze. But they told the public it was the U.S. Forest Service conducting a controlled burn near Quantico in Virginia. As residents rushed back to their homes with armfuls of Charmin to continue their Netflix binge, Quantico must have seemed suspiciously far from Bethesda.

Montgomery County Ride On disinfecting buses for coronavirus

Montgomery County's Ride On bus service is trying to get in front of a potential loss of ridership due to fears over the novel coronavirus. Three MoCo residents have tested positive for covid-19 so far; officials have not yet informed the public as to whether any of the three rode public transportation before their current quarantine status. Ride On says they are disinfecting all buses nightly for coronavirus, including fareboxes, poles and even the driver's steering wheel. The transit service says they are using a "concentrated, multi-purpose, hospital grade, germicidal detergent, antiviral solution."

On Saturday, the first cases of coronavirus in the District and Virginia were reported. Maryland and Montgomery County officials have yet to offer any further information on where the three MoCo patients may have traveled while infected with coronavirus after returning from their cruise in Egypt. Of course, while it will certainly help to clean the buses in any case, there will still be the issue of riding in close quarters on buses as the outbreak spreads. Coughs and sneezes are one of the leading ways the virus is spread.

Montgomery County coronavirus patients caught virus on cruise to Egypt

One exposed others at

Rockville retirement community;

officials continue to withhold

details on patient movements

within MoCo

Maryland and Montgomery County officials continue to hide critical information about the possible spread of coronavirus in the jurisdiction from an increasingly-frustrated and worried public. Neither government will give even the general location of the supposedly-quarantined patients in the County, much less specific businesses or locations where they may have exposed others to covid-19 in recent weeks.

Gov. Larry Hogan did say that all three patients were on a cruise in Egypt, on a ship widely identified across worldwide media as the A Sara. A number of cases in Houston have been linked to the same cruise, where the ship's crew has reportedly been infected as well.

The information about other cases from the same cruise that is now surfacing is likely the only reason that detail has now been made public by the governor. Hogan also mentioned that one of the three patients exposed about 100 people at a February 28 event at the Village of Rockville retirement community. The Maryland Department of Health said the following:

"persons who attended this event should check their temperature twice a day and notify their health care provider and local health department if their temperature is greater than 100.4 or they develop a respiratory illness. They should remain at home until they receive instructions about next steps from their health care provider or local health department. Members of the public who have questions about this information are encouraged to call the Maryland Emergency Management Agency call center at 410-517-3720. The call center is available until midnight tonight and from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday."

The lack of information at the state and county level is presenting a further danger to the public. People who were in contact with the coronavirus patients may be unwittingly exposing vulnerable members of the public, such as senior citizens or those with compromised immune or respiratory systems, to the virus rather than keeping social distance if not isolating themselves. Ironically, the identities of the patients are more likely to become public thanks to the coverup, as many amateur sleuths are now attempting to track down the information officials are withholding.

Nobody cares about the specific names and addresses of the patients; they simply want to know if they've been exposed, or what places they should avoid for the time being. Instead of protecting privacy, the unusual secrecy is only generating more wild speculation online.

Misinformation is dangerous in a potential pandemic. Those who are setting themselves up as trusted sources of reliable information undercut that position when they make false statements for political, rather than medical, reasons.

Federal experts telling people to stop buying masks because they "won't reduce your chances of catching the virus" immediately lost all credibility. Not only do properly-worn masks reduce your chance of catching coronavirus, but if they didn't, why would we need to save them for healthcare providers? Clearly, they help those healthcare providers avoid catching and spreading coronavirus, flu and other diseases. Don't blame the public trying to protect themselves and their families for government's failure to prepare for a pandemic.

Photo via U.S. Food & Drug Administration

Coronavirus cases in Montgomery County confirmed, MCPS preparing for potential school closures if needed

Hogan declares state of emergency

after 3 MoCo residents test

positive for COVID-19

Three people in Montgomery County have tested positive for coronavirus, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Thursday evening. Officials will not reveal the specific parts of Montgomery County where the three individuals live, where they traveled overseas, or what public places they have visited since returning from their travels. Hogan described them only as a married couple in their seventies, and an individual in his or her fifties.

At a press conference, Hogan said he had informed Vice-President Mike Pence of the three Maryland COVID-19 cases. Pence is leading the Trump administration's federal coronavirus response effort. Hogan also alerted Montgomery County officials, including Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith. The state's Emergency Operations Center has been activated, Hogan said.

Shortly afterward, MCPS released its own statement, which emphasized in boldface that schools will not be closed for coronavirus Friday. The statement said that there is no evidence the three patients, who Hogan said are under quarantine, were in contact with MCPS students since returning from their overseas travel. However, MCPS did say they are preparing for the real possibility that schools will have to close for an undetermined period if the pandemic continues to worsen.

"This is exactly what our state has been actively and aggressively been preparing for," Hogan said. He said this will allow the state's emergency offices to increase cooperation and coordination with federal and local officials. "We encourage all Marylanders not to panic," the Maryland Emergency Management Agency tweeted. MEMA conducted a coronavirus preparedness conference call with emergency managers from local jurisdictions around the state Thursday.

County Executive Marc Elrich is scheduled to give an update on the coronavirus cases at 10:00 AM this morning. Hogan will hold his own press conference at the same time. How much more detail either will give regarding the current cases is unclear. There are increasing calls from the public to know which public establishments, and parts of the county, the three infected people may have spread the virus in over the many days between their return from overseas and yesterday's positive test results. No one expects the names and addresses of the individuals to be released, of course, but simply to know whether they may have been exposed to the virus.

Meanwhile, the EPA released an official list of disinfectants that kill coronavirus, or prevent its spread. Panic buying of such products, along with bottled water, paper goods and other necessities, continues. Can't find hand wipes or hand sanitizer at your nearby stores? Here is a recipe for how to make hand sanitizer disinfectant at home, using vodka or rubbing alcohol (although the latter is also hard to find in many stores, as well).