BALTIMORE — Friday afternoon Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said he will not lift COVID-19 restrictions.
This, as the city continues to see a bump in cases post New Year’s Eve.
As a result, indoor and outdoor dining will remain closed at city restaurants.
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“After reviewing the data around case rate positivity rate hospitalizations and deaths, we are seeing a bump fall on New Year’s Eve,” Scott said.“With that in mind, I’ve made the decision to continue on with the modified phase one guidelines in Baltimore City. We will take the next week to continue to closely monitor the data on a daily basis with our health commissioner and hospital partners.”
City health officials say over the past four weeks Baltimore's coronavirus case numbers have dropped by 22 percent.
Despite that, Scott said there have been 33,522 cases of COVID-19 and 671 deaths with 461 people currently hospitalized in Baltimore.
The Mayor said the city's intensive care units are at 90 percent capacity, with acute care beds at 89 percent
Baltimore City's Health Commissioner said the City is averaging two deaths a day due to the virus.
Because of this, Scott said it’s too soon to lift restrictions and he will continue to monitor trends and provide an update next Friday.
As for the economic impact of his decision Scott said, "Lives are more important than money. We have to understand that. Our economic team, we’re all going to be working to support the city as we have."
As of yesterday the Baltimore City Health Department said it has helped provide vaccinations for 842 people. That includes EMS workers, fire department employees, police, health department employees, urgent care workers, dialysis workers and front-line judiciary staff.
