TOWSON, Md (WMAR) — "We never stopped. We never closed. It’s just another day," said Nick Zahirsky, general manger of Charles Village Pub.
Since March, Charles Village Pub in Towson has been open. Though the operations may constantly have to change, they are just rolling with it.
"Every day is a little bit different but you read your guidelines and send out your alerts and tell the staff," said Zahirsky.
And with a rise in COVID-19 cases across Maryland, things are changing again. Sunday the Maryland Department of Health reported 165,000 confirmed cases and a positive rate of 6.5 percent.
Aside from Gov. Larry Hogan's Executive Order decreasing restaurant capacity to 50 percent, the Baltimore County Executive put in place a midnight curfew for restaurants as of Sunday, but Zahirsky said it doesn't really impact them much.
"Tonight, a Ravens game, I’m expecting to be closed well before midnight anyway " said Zahirsky.
Next door in Baltimore City, the mayor further limited indoor capacity to 25 percent with an 11 p.m. curfew. Zahirsky is optimistic the counties later curfew will help them get some new business.
"Nobodies going to dinner at 8:30, 9 o'clock down there when they can come up to the county and stay a little later," said Zahirsky.
He said overall though, business has gotten slower with the colder weather. It's the opposite of what the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital is seeing... a record high number of people coming out for COVID-19 testing.
"I think it expresses and reflects the fact that the people of Baltimore and the citizens of Maryland are very serious about what's happening with COVID. They want to do their very best to take care of themselves and their families," said Dr. Chuck Callahan, the Deputy Director of the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital.
It’s run jointly by the University of Maryland Medical Center and Johns Hopkins Hospital. With the increase in demand, they are adding extra days.
As of this week, they will also be open on Mondays, so Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. you can get tested, with or without an appointment. They also hope to continue to expand to Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
"That will be new for us but we are hoping to open the opportunity for us to be able to reach that population that can't get there because of work during the day," said Dr. Callahan.
Whether it’s the public health community or small businesses, people are doing what they can to try and curtail the uptick in cases.
"Obviously there's a reason you get more infections. It doesn’t just happen so if everyone just plays along with the guidelines, hopefully we end up somewhere in a better place," said Zahirsky.
