Maryland has surpassed 2,000 COVID hospitalizations, prompting Governor Hogan to provide an update on ongoing emergency actions.
The governor says that with hospitalizations and deaths as their primary focus, they have already taken a number of emergency actions in preparation for the surge.
"Earlier this month, we established a surge operations center to optimize bed capacity and fully utilize the alternate care sites we have kept in place," he said. "We have worked closely with our licensing boards to augment the healthcare workforce, and we have committed an additional $100 million for hospitals and nursing homes to address urgent staffing needs."
Hospitals are required to implement pandemic plans to suspend elective surgeries and manage their patient census.
"Whatever resources hospital systems have requested, we are providing," said the Governor.
With anticipated demand for testing, 500,000 at-home rapid test kits were issued through local health departments and BWI Airport.
"We have also expanded the days and hours of state-run testing sites, and encouraged local health departments to do the same," the Governor continued. "We have made an additional $30 million in funding available to school systems to enhance their own testing resources."
The Maryland National Guard has also been mobilized at multiple surge testing sites.
The Governor again urged Marylander's to make sure they are vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.
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