Verizon working at night in downtown Rockville

Watch out for lane closures near Rockville Town Center. Verizon is performing utility work on their network in that area at night.

Hogan orders all enclosed malls closed, haz-mat suited men spotted in Bethesda, 1st coronavirus death in Maryland

107 confirmed cases in Maryland,

including first child to be infected;

GAP, H&M close;

Hogan's handling of COVID-19

pandemic getting nationwide 

attention

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has announced the first coronavirus death in the state, a Prince George's County resident who had pre-existing medical conditions that made him more vulnerable to the covid-19 virus, he added. He said there are now 107 confirmed cases of coronavirus statewide, including the first child to have contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, GAP and H&M closed all of their stores in Montgomery County and across the country. Earlier this morning, I broke the story that Montgomery Mall and Wheaton Plaza have mostly closed, except for a few "essential" tenants providing needed services or products like groceries. Now, Hogan has ordered all enclosed malls in the state to close at 5 PM tonight. Sassanova was the latest retailer to close at Bethesda Row, but said they can deliver or offer curbside pickup, in addition to their online storefront.

Hogan also announced that no one except essential workers or frontline healthcare personnel should be riding transit in the state. He has also amended the gatherings restriction to be limited to events of ten people or less. And by executive order, Hogan said no one but ticketed passengers may enter the terminal at BWI Airport, unless they are assisting a disabled passenger.

Gap closed all stores nationwide

H&M has done the same

Haz-mat suited men spotted in Bethesda

Last night, men wearing haz-mat suits were seen inside the new offices of Fidelity Investments in the Chevy Chase Trust building in downtown Bethesda. Given the current anxiety of the public, this certainly turned heads of pedestrians walking past.

Jaleo Bethesda launches community kitchen

Jaleo Bethesda opened a community kitchen outside of the restaurant at the corner of Woodmont Avenue and Elm Street. Meals will be provided to anyone who needs them between noon and 5:00 PM. If you can afford to pay for your meal, they have two contactless payment options. If you cannot afford to pay, you don't have to, on the honor system. God bless them.

Now not showing

Movie theaters across the county have gone dark following the state's order to close this week. Here's a look at marquees in Rockville and Bethesda.

TV, America take note of 

Hogan's leadership on coronavirus

Speaking of Larry Hogan, the governor's handling of the coronavirus is earning him bipartisan praise locally and nationally. He and fellow Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine - along with Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo -  have been out in front at each critical juncture as the pandemic has unfolded, taking bold steps to shutter schools and businesses. All three have boosted their nationwide profile ahead of the 2024 presidential race. In contrast, when the coronavirus crisis was imminent in February, the Montgomery County Council was the only such body in the region on a two-week vacation. Today, Hogan is the darling of cable news, appearing on every major program in recent days, each day seeming to bring another major announcement from the governor.

Hogan found the Montgomery County Council asleep at the switch once again when the virus hit, and stepped in to close Montgomery County Public Schools, as county officials hemmed and hawed over making such a decision for political and ideological reasons. The Council has been totally sidelined by Hogan. Rarely meeting, and taking no significant actions to address the crisis, the $140,000-salaried County Council has left the pandemic response to County Executive Marc Elrich and Health Officer Travis Sayles.

The Council's big action on its coronavirus agenda? To pass a proclamation calling for some of the same moves that have already been made days earlier by Hogan and President Trump.

In fact, our "full-time" Council has so little to do, that one member has found time to moonlight as a children's show host. Councilmember Will Jawando announced Wednesday that he would be broadcasting a story time for kids on Facebook each Wednesday. That's all very nice, and it's great he has the free time, but then the situation quickly turned unethical.

Taxpayer-funded MoCo government social
media accounts caught promoting County Councilmember

Taxpayer-funded Monrgomery County Government social media accounts began promoting Jawando's new kids show, and by extension, politician Jawando himself. That's not allowed under ethics rules, but certainly not the first time such political promotion with taxpayer dollars has taken place. The County's inspector general should indeed review this matter.

Montgomery Mall temporarily closes "majority of our shopping center operations" due to coronavirus

Westfield announced it has temporarily closed the "majority of our shopping center operations" at both Montgomery Mall in Bethesda and Wheaton Plaza "to further contribute to the fight against this pandemic," the mall operator said in a statement. This was among the latest, and largest-scale, retail closures due to the spread of the coronavirus in Montgomery County. "Essential retailers" may remain independently open at both malls, Westfield said, but did not provide a list of open businesses at either property.

However, the websites for both malls appear to indicate on the "Stores" list which businesses are open, and which are closed. For example, the dry cleaners at Montgomery Mall is listed as open, as is Dick's Sporting Goods at Wheaton Plaza. Other businesses say, "Closed," where the hours should be. But Westfield recommends you call ahead to confirm if the specific business you wish to patronize is actually open, and what their hours are, as this is subject to change at any time as the covid-19 crisis continues to rapidly develop.

Coronavirus hospital tents erected across Montgomery County but "don't be alarmed," health officer says

Hogan delays primary to June 2

as more businesses shutter

While the public is told that there are still only 24 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Montgomery County, coronavirus tent hospitals were suddenly erected Tuesday at hospitals across the county. County Health Officier Travis Gayles tried to get ahead of public concerns on this development, saying "don't be alarmed." He said the tents are simply triage centers so that potential coronavirus patients do not have to enter the hospitals' emergency departments, where they might infect others.

A shortage of test kits remains here and nationwide, and Gayles stressed that these tents were not offering testing services to the public. The tent hospitals were erected yesterday at Holy Cross Hospital's Forest Glen and Germantown campuses, Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Adventist White Oak Medical Center, Adventist Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, and MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney. It's interesting that none of the hospitals mentioned the new tents on their social media feeds yesterday.

Two notable aspects on the latest coronavirus numbers across the state: Montgomery County has by far the highest number of confirmed cases, many times that of any other county; the reason(s) for that other than population size would be worth investigating. Second, for a disease that appears designed to hit the senior population hard, the majority of current cases in Maryland are between the ages of 18 and 64. No cases have been confirmed among residents under the age of 18.

On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan postponed the state's primary election to June 2, 2020. It's unclear how it will be any safer or healthier for the public to go out to vote that soon, and many are speculating that Maryland could be forced to institute a vote by mail election. In fact, the special election to fill Elijah Cummings' Congressional seat will now be conducted by mail, so stay tuned for election developments that effect us here in Montgomery County.

More businesses are closing due to the pandemic. Paul Bakery and bluemercury in Bethesda, and all Macy's stores in Montgomery County, were among the latest on a sober St. Patrick's Day. Macy's announced it would reopen at the end of the month (again, highly unlikely, as with schools and businesses - all indications are that we will be in a much worse, not better, situation by then).

Target is reducing hours at all Montgomery County locations and nationwide. The big box store, Whole Foods Market, and Safeway were among those promising to institute times of the day during which only seniors and people with certain health issues may enter the store beginning this week.

The "senior hours" idea had been promoted heavily online in recent days by social media influencers, but it's unclear how effective it would be in preventing the spread of coronavirus, since those same people could carry it into the store anyway. Seniors are in the second-largest age group among current coronavirus cases. In practice, it may simply force the rest of the public to cram into more crowded aisles during increasingly fewer store hours, creating more stress and more spread of the disease. Not to mention shutting out folks from the small restocked amounts of hard-to-get supplies that people are hoarding like toilet paper and disinfecting wipes.

Sometimes people need to think before enacting a knee-jerk policy just because it sounds woke. Here's an idea: Retailers and suppliers actually restocking supplies, and operating on regular hours, instead of trying to add to the panic and hoarding. Imagine people not punching each other over a pack of Charmin because, after the initial supply shock, trucks would start rolling and it would be restocked in sufficient supply. Perhaps the paper companies have found a novel way to make money without selling their products. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Photo courtesy Montgomery County Government

7-Eleven sets opening date at Montgomery Mall

The epic delays in the construction of the new 7-Eleven store inside Westfield Montgomery Mall appear to finally be reaching an end. The store now has an official grand opening date of March 27, 2020. Let's face it - timing is not their thing.

Perhaps the only thing worse than opening a store in the middle of a pandemic - from a business standpoint - would be opening a movie theater or restaurant. But once things get back to normal, this is going to be an interesting venture to watch. It is either rare or unprecedented for a 7-Eleven to open in a mall food court. The layout of the store, and which products and categories are emphasized, will be intriguing to see.

Congressional Plaza construction update (Photos)

Construction continues on the future Barnes & Noble bookstore and FITRow section at Congressional Plaza. As you can see, much more has been done outside than inside at the Barnes & Noble. The opposite is true inside FITRow. Some branding signage has been installed and work is well underway building what will be three new fitness studios by three different chains.

Maryland orders bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms to close to prevent coronavirus spread

Warning the coronavirus pandemic will be "much harder [and] take much longer" than the public may realize, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced he is taking "drastic actions right now," that will be "terribly disruptive, but absolutely necessary." Hogan ordered all Maryland bars, restaurants, movie theaters and gyms to close indefinitely by 5:00 PM today. He said curbside pickup and drive-thru food sales could continue as normal.

Hogan also banned the holding of events of more than 50 people. Two-hundred and fifty Maryland State Troopers are being deployed to enforce these orders, as well as address any other law enforcement matters during the pandemic, he said, stressing that the closures and bans will be vigorously enforced.

All grocery stores, pharmacies and banks are remain open, Hogan said. The governor said he has ordered an immediate assessment of which currently-closed hospital facilities across the state can be reopened. Hogan suggested such actions could potentially add up to 6000 additional hospital beds, which are currently too few to meet the demand of the worst-case scenario with covid-19.

Hogan also activated the Maryland Medical Reserve Corps this morning. In addition, he said any physician with an active out-of-state medical license, or an expired Maryland license, will be allowed to practice medicine during the coronavirus crisis.

A thousand Maryland National Guard troops have been deployed this morning for the pandemic, and Hogan said another 1200 are on immediate standby. The governor enacted an executive order preventing any utility, including cable companies, from cutting off service to any customer statewide. Hogan also barred landlords from evicting tenants until further notice.

The state has applied for federal relief regarding meals for needy students. Hogan said the Trump administration has made it possible for Maryland to now provide three meals a day, and a snack to every child who needs them statewide.