County Executive Marc Elrich and County Council President Sidney Katz issued a joint statement after Gov. Larry Hogan signed authorization yesterday for special state funding to address the COVID-19 virus. As a public service, the Source is publishing it in its entirety, with a link to additional information:

“Governor Larry Hogan today signed legislation previously approved by the Maryland General Assembly authorizing him to transfer resources from the State’s Rainy Day Fund to address the COVID-19 virus. We want to thank Governor Hogan, Senate President Bill Ferguson, Speaker Adrienne Jones and members of the General Assembly for quickly taking the necessary steps, and providing the funding, that will allow local governments to inform residents on how to reduce their risk of exposure, to test residents who think they may be infected and to treat those who do test positive.

“The steps finalized today show the cooperation between our State government and local governments in reacting to this sudden public health issue.

“The Maryland Department of Health, which is the State agency leading the COVID-19 investigation and response in Maryland, previously confirmed that a fourth County resident tested positive for the virus. We anticipated that this could happen since the State reported the first three confirmed cases on March 5.

“The public health impact of COVID-19 is rapidly evolving and our State and Federal partners will continue working with us for the days and weeks to come as we jointly monitor, investigate, track down and identify suspected cases. We are unified in our commitment to providing the resources necessary to protect the health and welfare of all our residents.

“We appreciate everyone’s willingness to take extraordinary action during this extraordinary time.”

Additional information about the virus from the county’s Department of Health and Human Services is available online.

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