Hogan responds to Trump criticism over South Korean kits; virus death toll tops 1,000 in region

Civil rights advocates are pressing for the release of Prince George’s County inmates at high risk of medical complications from covid-19 in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that describes unsanitary, crowded conditions at the jail.

The lawsuit alleges that county officials have ignored recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus and includes declarations from inmates who say they are living in filthy cells and lack access to medical care and basic hygiene products.

“I have not had a shower in nearly two weeks,” one inmate says in a declaration included in the lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Corps. “Instead, I have been forced to wash myself as best I can in a dirty, mildewed sink. In the isolation cell, I had a bar of soap for myself, but now in the ten-man cell I have to share the sink and bar of soap with the other men in here.”

The county’s Department of Corrections reported its first positive case in the jail March 30. On Tuesday, an official said that more than 15 inmates and 21 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus. The county also has the highest number of reported cases and deaths in the Washington region.

Civil rights advocates press Md. Gov. Larry Hogan to release elderly, at-risk prisoners to slow spread of coronavirus

Andrew Cephas, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said the director has not been officially been served and "she has not conferred with counsel, so we cannot comment at this time.”

The lawsuit was filed as an emergency class action on behalf of inmates with medical conditions that make them more susceptible to complications from covid-19. Among those identified in the court papers are inmates with chronic bronchitis and severe asthma, including those who have experienced symptoms of the virus. One asked for medical attention or a test, according to the lawsuit, but was refused and told that the medical unit was too full. Another inmate, according to the lawsuit, says he has not seen anyone clean or sanitize any surfaces in his unit.

“As COVID-19 sweeps through the facility, the jail’s abysmal conditions — overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate health care — have only made the outbreak worse,” Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal-justice campaigns at Color of Change, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“Jails are ill-equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude. The best way to reduce the spread of the virus is to release as many people as possible.”

Prince George’s County prosecutors announced Monday that 150 inmates had been released from the jail in recent weeks in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Justin Jouvenal contributed to this report.

Eighty-five residents and staff at a nursing home in Montgomery County have tested positive for covid-19. The outbreak of the virus at Regency Care in Silver Spring is the largest known in the county and among the worst in Maryland.

As of Monday morning, 57 residents at the 92-bed facility had tested positive, said Mary Anderson, spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. Thirty residents are still at the nursing home, 18 have been hospitalized and nine have died. Twenty-eight staff members have also contracted the virus.

Regency Care did not respond to multiple calls and emails requesting comment. More than 40 nursing homes in Montgomery have reported cases of covid-19 among patients or staff, Anderson said.

As of Tuesday morning, the county of 1 million people had reported 116 covid-related deaths, including probable fatalities, and more than 2,700 known infections.

Raman Tuli, a geriatric doctor based in Montgomery, said at least 11 of her patients at Rockville Nursing Home have tested positive for the virus, and three have died. Numbers for the facility are higher, Tuli said. The facility’s website states in an announcement dated April 16 that seven residents had tested positive but does not mention any deaths.

A receptionist at the nursing home reached by The Washington Post said no one was available to provide updated numbers. Over the weekend, the federal government began requiring nursing homes to report cases of covid-19 to residents and their families within 12 hours of a confirmed case and to provide regular updates.

During his third national media appearance of the day, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday continued to dismiss President Trump’s criticism of him, saying on ABC’s “The View” that it is Trump who appears misinformed about the state of testing in Maryland.

“The president seemed to be a little confused yesterday in his press conference,” said Hogan (R). “I have no idea what set him off.”

The governor and the president have tangled in recent days as Hogan, a Republican who once considered a primary challenge to Trump, draws national attention for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday night, Trump singled out Hogan during a televised news briefing and said that “he needed to get a little knowledge” about lab testing options within Maryland’s borders. Testing shortages have stymied the country’s ability to contain the virus and could limit how quickly the economy can reopen once a surge in cases abates.

On Tuesday, Hogan continued to defend himself, saying that his acquisition of 500,000 tests from South Korea is an example of states following Trump’s advice to take charge of securing supplies to deal with the pandemic.

“He said we needed to be leading and we needed to be stepping up,” Hogan said. “That’s exactly what we have done.”

Separately, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) praised Hogan during his daily televised news briefing for getting the tests from another country, saying the federal government should be working with other nations and that “Larry Hogan is a better governor.”

During Hogan’s appearance on “The View,” he renewed another criticism he has leveled at Trump, saying the president is contradicting his own guidance when he encourages people to protest stay-at-home orders meant to hinder the virus’s spread.

“It’s unhelpful. It doesn’t make any sense, the mixed messaging we’re getting out of the president,” Hogan said. “In our state, and in most of the states where he’s encouraging protests, we don’t have 14 days of downward numbers, which is what the president’s plan … called for,” Hogan said, referring to federal guidance that recommends widespread social distancing until states see two weeks of declining coronavirus caseloads.

“He basically was encouraging people to violate his own federal policy,” Hogan said.

Later in the day, Hogan publicly released a letter to Trump thanking the federal government for offering use of federal labs for the state’s testing needs. He noted that he, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) had asked for federal help for testing in the capital region more than a month ago. And he asked for guidance on how he can immediately access federal labs.

“As chair of the National Governors Association, I want to thank you for the continued coordination between federal, state and local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hogan’s letter began.

He continued: “The federal labs can be key to our utilizing the 500,000 test we recently acquired from South Korea and our comprehensive recovery plan to get Marylanders back to work as safely and quickly as possible. I was grateful to hear of your generous offer to allow the State of Maryland to access these federal labs for our testing.”

Top Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates have asked Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to consider allowing nonessential businesses to begin to reopen under guidelines for sanitizing and social distancing, saying the state’s economy cannot continue to suffer under a shutdown.

“Before you read any further, we want you and anyone else who may read this correspondence to understand that we are not about to ask you to simply return Virginia to normal overnight,” House minority leader Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) and two other GOP leaders wrote to Northam on Tuesday.

Acknowledging that the continuing pandemic creates a situation “far from normal,” Gilbert urged Northam to “consider utilizing the expertise at your disposal” to rethink the near-total business shutdown. “Increased hand-washing, social distancing, self-seclusion and all other manner of pandemic-induced vigilance and social courtesy” are now pervasive enough that businesses, under state guidance, could reopen their doors, Gilbert wrote.

He was joined by the GOP caucus chair, Del. Kathy Byron (Lynchburg), and whip James A. “Jay” Leftwich Jr. (Chesapeake). Republicans have generally supported Northam’s efforts since he declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak March 12. But when the ban on nonessential businesses such as barbershops and movie theaters was set to expire April 23, Northam extended it for two weeks until May 8 — and several Republican lawmakers began to speak up.

A group of Republican senators wrote Northam last week, complaining that the economy could not bear such continued restrictions. The new letter comes a day before the General Assembly will reconvene in Richmond to take up any amendments proposed by Northam to the 1,291 pieces of legislation passed during the regular legislative session.

“The threat of COVID-19 is real, and serious,” the House GOP leaders wrote. “But as two weeks have become a month, and one month threatens to become two, far too many Virginians are being kept on the sidelines, unable to innovate to keep their small part of our Commonwealth’s — and their personal — economy running.”

Northam said this week that he is anxious to reopen Virginia’s economy but that he will follow federal guidelines calling for 14 days of declining numbers of coronavirus cases before lifting restrictions. State models suggest that the curve of infection could begin to bend downward by the end of this week, Northam said Monday.

Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said in response to the letter Tuesday that “the Governor is grateful for this input, and is pleased that these legislators’ share his belief in a gradual, science-driven approach to reopening."

“We are continuing to follow the White House guidelines, and our team has been working closely with public health experts, businesses, and industry stakeholders to ensure that when we are able to reopen, we do so in a responsible way.”

The number of covid-19 cases continues to rise inside Maryland state prisons, with 39 inmates and 107 correctional officers having tested positive for the virus, officials said Tuesday.

The prison system has reported one death: an inmate from the Jessup Correctional Institution, who was in his 60s and had underlying health issues.

Most of the cases are confined to a handful of the state’s prison facilities. The highest total is at Jessup Correctional, with 15 inmates and 16 correctional officers testing positive.

Elsewhere in the state:

Dorsey Run Correctional Facility in Jessup, with four inmates and 15 correctional officers testing positive.

The Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center in Baltimore, with one inmate and 24 correctional officers testing positive.

The Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, with 10 inmates and 20 correctional officers testing positive.

Essential employees in Maryland will be able to get haircuts under new guidelines issued this week that allow barbershops and hair salons to operate by appointment only.

The guidelines, issued Monday, require workers who are deemed essential to present letters from their employers at haircut appointments. Barbershops and salons have been shut down since March 30, when residents were ordered to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Businesses that had previously been allowed to remain open were encouraged to take steps to scale down in-person contacts and to allow employees to work remotely. Before the stay-at-home order, barbershops and salons were allowed to continue one-on-one services, according to previous guidance from Gov. Larry Hogan’s office of legal counsel.

When every day is a bad hair day: Getting to the roots of our new reality

A spokesman for Hogan (R) did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on why the change was made. The new guidelines require barbershops and salons to adhere to certain rules to operate, including allowing only one customer in the shop or salon at a time; requiring the customer and barber or stylist to wear a mask (except when a face covering on the customer would make it impossible for services to be performed); and disinfecting after each customer.

“It is generally assumed that this enforcement recommendation will be used for military personnel, first responders and other essential workers required to maintain certain, well-documented grooming standards as part of their profession, or where ungroomed hair could pose a safety risk,” the policy stated.

Hogan has said repeatedly that he does not intend to reopen the state economy until certain benchmarks are met. The governor is expected to release details of his recovery plan later this week. He has noted that President Trump’s coronavirus task force has recommended that states record 14 straight days of declining hospitalizations, ICU bed use and deaths before reopening.

Hogan said Tuesday during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he plans to reopen Maryland’s economy “as soon as we possibly can and when it’s safe to do so. … We have numbers going up, so we’re not quite there yet.”

D.C. officials say they do not expect Congress to grant their request for an additional $700 million in covid-19 relief funds in legislation likely to pass this week.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and others plan to keep asking lawmakers to include the money in future bills. The funds would have been allocated in earlier legislation if the federal government had defined the nation’s capital as a state rather than a territory.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the city’s nonvoting representative in the House, said more than half of Democrats in Congress have supported the District’s push for full funding, but it is unlikely to be included in the latest bill.

“We have not given up, but there is no money in there for cities and states as I speak at the moment,” Norton said in an interview Tuesday. “That significantly reduces our chances to get something in there for one city, even one that has, forgive my expression, been screwed.”

Read the full story here.

More than 15 inmates and 21 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus at the Prince George’s County detention center, an official said Tuesday.

The numbers are a large jump since the county’s Department of Corrections last issued a news release on cases on April 2. At that time, three inmates and one officer had tested positive.

Andrew Cephas, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, wrote in an email that “approximately 17 inmates” had tested positive for the virus. He did not immediately explain why officials were offering an estimated figure.

“None of these individuals are acutely ill and they are all isolated from the general population,” Cephas wrote.

Three of the staff members have recovered and returned to work, Cephas said. Prince George’s County officials announced Monday that 150 inmates had been released from the jail in recent weeks in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.