Baltimore County Ready For State Fair, BMW Championship Despite State Of Emergency, Executive Says
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ) -- Just as two major large-scale events are underway in Baltimore County, the Maryland Department of Health once again reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases, for the fourth day in a row.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski says both the BMW Championship and the Maryland State Fair are being held as safely as possible and he said the county is well-positioned to host them.
"We're following best practices. We're a well-vaccinated jurisdiction, and we're confident that we're both providing this world-class offering to our residents and to our visitors but we're also doing so as safely as we possibly can," he said.
But Olszewski did say that the numbers are alarming and that's why they've issued a statement of emergency and are taking steps to try to reduce the spread of the virus.
"The state of emergency tells our residents this is still very real. It's still a challenge for all of us and we're prepared to take additional steps as necessary," Olszewski said.
Gov. Larry Hogan announced on Saturday that the state surpassed a milestone of administering 7.5 million vaccine doses.
And now just over 60 percent of Marylanders are fully vaccinated.
Hogan once again stressed the importance of getting vaccinated after the announcement and said in a statement: "The vaccines are without a doubt our single most effective tool to mitigate the threat of COVID-19 and the surging Delta variant, and Maryland's vaccination rate continues to outpace the nation."
If you still need to get vaccinated and are heading to the state fair, there is a vaccination clinic at the fairgrounds that's open through Sept. 6.