Nearly 15 months after it was first issued, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that he will end the Covid-19 state of emergency in Maryland on July 1.
All statewide emergency mandates and restrictions will cease to be in effect on that date, including mask mandates in settings such as public transit, schools and medical settings, Hogan said during a press conference in Annapolis. Businesses can still set their own mask rules, he noted.
To help with the transition, July 1 will mark the start of a 45-day “grace period” that will last until Aug. 15. During this period, some regulations will still be relaxed, including drivers’ license renewals and a moratorium on evictions. A full list of orders that will be affected is available here.
Hogan said in response to press questions that he was unsure how the lifting of the state of emergency would affect local restrictions. For example, Baltimore City still has an indoor mask mandate and Mayor Brandon Scott has said he will not lift it until 65% of the city's adult residents receive at least one dose of the vaccine.
When asked about the city's mask mandate, city Communications Director Cal Harris said in a statement late Tuesday that Scott and Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa will hold a press conference at noon on Wednesday to "evaluate the latest vaccination efforts" and "deliver a path forward."
The Republican governor first ordered a general state of emergency and a catastrophic health emergency on March 5 as the first Covid-19 cases were identified in Maryland. In recent days, nearby states have ended or announced plans to end their own emergency declarations. New Jersey did so last week and Virginia will do so at the end of the month.
The lifting of the emergency order in Maryland comes as the state continues to see huge decreases in Covid-19 health metrics. Tuesday marks the fourth day in a row that the state has reported less than 100 new Covid-19 cases and Maryland’s positivity rate stands at 0.82%. The number of those hospitalized with Covid-19 has also remained below 200 for the past four days.
On the vaccine front, 72.2% of Marylanders 18 and older have now received at least one dose, the 10th highest vaccination rate in the country. In all, the state has administered 6.5 million doses of the vaccine as of Tuesday morning and more than half of Maryland’s roughly 6 million residents are now fully vaccinated.
“While the end of the state of emergency is an important final step in our recovery from COVID-19, it does not mean that this virus and its variants no longer pose any threat,” Hogan said, continuing to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Note: This article has been updated to include a statement from Baltimore City.
