Officials in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County convened Saturday morning for what they say will be the first in a series of weekly virtual town halls devoted to the outbreak.

“This all came across pretty suddenly,” County Executive Steuart Pittman said in his opening remarks. “A week ago if you had told me our schools would be closed and that most of our staff would be working from home, I would have been a little bit shocked and surprised.”

Pittman said the virus would certainly spread in the county, and county officials felt compelled to respond to social media posts downplaying the crisis.

“There are still people saying well, a lot more people die of cancer, a lot more people die of gun violence or car accidents than have died from covid-19,” he said. “That’s true. But the scientists who we should really be listening to and should trust, have seen it coming. They’ve seen it spread in other counties. They know in our county, in our state, there are a lot more people who are positive than have shown up in tests.”

Pittman said that only about 100 people had been tested so far in the state, but that capacity was quickly expanding, with Johns Hopkins Hospital soon able to perform 1,000 tests a day.

Many of the questions submitted were from residents asking when and where they would be able to get a test, but Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Anne Arundel County’s health officer, said testing all residents was not practical.

“We are prioritizing tests for those in the hospital or with severe symptoms,” he said. “That means in this present moment, if you have mild symptoms, we ask you to stay home. If moderate or severe, and you’re having trouble breathing and need to get care, by all means do that.”

Asked what the county would do if its hospitals became overwhelmed with covid-19 patients, Kalyanaraman said there were “disaster plans” in place but did not detail them.

“We’re trying not to get to that point,” he said.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent George Arlotto said the county would be providing hot lunches and snacks at 52 locations, including 21 mobile sites, while schools are out to make sure that students were not skipping meals.“We’re prepared right now to prepare and deliver roughly 13,000 meals a day over the next two weeks,” he said, adding that the number could increase if necessary.

Arlotto said the county would launch a website Sunday night with lessons for elementary and middle school students, and that high school students could continue their studies through their teachers’ individual online classrooms.

“We are in extraordinary times,” he said. “We are building this plan as we fly.”

Pittman said the county would do what it could to blunt the economic cost of the crisis, and he recommended residents support restaurants and stores by buying gift cards now to use after the outbreak is over. But, he said, the most economic help would come from Washington.

The county executive added that the sheriff’s office would not be enforcing eviction notices in the coming weeks nor would the public works department shut off people’s water. Parks would remain open to provide people a safe place to escape their self-isolation.