Salons and other businesses that were deemed to be non-essential have started providing services again in Phase I of reopening. Before the lockdown, restaurants and bars required special permits to seat and serve people outdoors. Steuart Pittman, Anne Arundel’s County Executive, said that they will be allowed to set up temporary seating outside for 180 days or until the pandemic has slowed down enough for businesses to operate as usual. Pittman also said:
“Our office of law and permitting staff are cutting red Tape like it’s never been cut before to make reopening possible. So, I want to thank all of my staff for putting in the long hours.”
Pittman also took the time to explain why the county has decided to use gross square footage as a measure to decide on the occupancy rate of a building, rather than the fire code limit. He noted that this will give people the room to move around inside buildings in Crofton while maintaining social distancing laws. Flyer printing is sometimes used to let people know about new rules.
Moving forward, county executives would like the Governor to communicate better with the counties before making more statewide decisions. Phase II of reopening will happen if the infection numbers continue to go down, although some counties will be forced to open at a slower rate if they are unable to meet the state’s requirements.
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