Coronavirus Response: Young, Leaders Of Maryland's Largest Counties Want 'Coordinated Response' To Reopening State

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Ahead of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's scheduled Wednesday evening news conference in which he is expected to announce a move to begin the reopening process amid the coronavirus pandemic, the leaders of some of the state's most populated jurisdictions will discuss their plan of action if reopening begins.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young said the leaders of the "Big Eight" -- including Baltimore City and seven of the largest counties -- will hold a joint call at 2 p.m. to talk about how they may address the reopening.

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The mayor said the leaders want to see a "coordinated response" to the process. On Tuesday, Young said Baltimore was not ready to reopen.

"What we want to do is be coordinated in our efforts so that one jurisdiction won't be doing something different (than) the next one, we want to make sure we keep people safe," Young said Wednesday morning. "Because as you know we're surrounded by the counties. The county people come here to work and shop, we go there to work and shop, so we want to make sure that we're doing it in a healthful fashion."

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state neared 35,000 as of Wednesday morning, but the number of hospitalizations was down slightly from 1,563 on Tuesday to 1,550 on Wednesday.

Hogan's news conference is scheduled for 5 p.m. WJZ will carry it live on-air and online.

For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.

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