Maryland governor lays out long-term plan for COVID-19
Associated PressLarry Hogan outlined a long-term preparedness plan for dealing with COVID-19 on Thursday, with a focus on treatments to keep people out of hospitals and keeping the state ready to respond to virus variants and a potential increase in cases. Hogan said the state has nearly doubled its “Test to Treat” sites to nearly 90 locations over the last three months to make it easier for people to get tested for the virus. The governor also said the state health department is preparing dozens more urgent care and ambulatory care locations to be ready to provide these services by the fall. “COVID may be with us for a long time into the future, so the very good news is that we have vaccines to protect ourselves and our community and medications to treat this disease safely and effectively,” said Dr. Howard Haft, executive director of the Maryland Primary Care Program. “These COVID-19 vaccines, just like the other COVID-19 vaccines we have for other age groups, will help protect our youngest Marylanders against severe illness, hospitalization, or even death from this virus,” said Dr. Jinlene Chan, the deputy secretary for the health department.