Mask Mandate Could Be Reinstated: County Council Meets Thursday

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Mask mandates could return for everyone in Montgomery County regardless of vaccination status if the county reaches "substantial" submission.

County Executive Marc Elrich made that recommendation to the County Council, following the CDC's updated guidance last week that people in areas with high and substantial transmission should wear masks indoors.

Substantial transmission is 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 residents for seven days, according to the CDC. Montgomery County has 1.05 million residents, so there would need to be 75 new cases per day or 525 new cases over a seven-day period for the mask mandate to be reinstated, the county said in a news release. There were 90 new cases reported on Aug. 1, according to the county's data.

“We have seen the daily number of new cases go up for more than two weeks and the majority of the new cases are the Delta variant, which is highly contagious,” said Elrich in a statement. “While we have a high rate of vaccination in the community, health officials have determined that this variant is very easy to spread and we want to be sure that those in the community who aren’t eligible to be vaccinated, such as children under the age of 12, are protected. No one wants to go back to wearing masks but in the absence of a 100 percent vaccination rate in the community, masking is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the health of our community.”

The County Council will meet Thursday at 2 p.m. and vote on the county executive's recommendation. The Council meets remotely, and streams its meetings online. You can sign up to participate here.

The Council does not have a regular session this week — it is in recess from Aug. 2 to Sept. 12.

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