Around Maryland

From his home in Sharpsburg, Maryland, 70-year-old Gary Robinson started making phone calls in search of a COVID-19 vaccine for himself and his wife. In Baltimore, 69-year-old Joel White went to the state’s vaccine website, only to learn he would have to register with individual medical providers to find a shot. All the way in Indiana, Cheri Hampton-Farmer started researching online: how could she locate vaccines for her 86-year-old father and 90-year-old mother living in Hagerstown?

Maryland health officials reported 862 new cases of the coronavirus Wednesday, as well as 27 fatalities associated with the disease. The daily tallies bring the state to 378,490 and 7,607 total COVID-19 cases and deaths, respectively, since officials began tracking the disease in March. Maryland confirmed its first cases March 5.

Positive COVID-19 cases in the Carroll County Public Schools system dropped significantly this week as the system readies to return students to buildings full time. Carroll County’s Board of Education recently voted to allow students to return to the buildings at least four days a week by March 22, and cases have been trending downward for over a month. The Carroll County Public Schools dashboard that tracks positive coronavirus cases reported Wednesday that 48 people — 11 staff members and 37 students — have the virus this week.

The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation and Howard University, Wednesday announced the establishment of the Marriott-Sorenson Center for Hospitality Leadership with a $20 million endowment gift to the university. In addition, Marriott International announced the creation of the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund, which will support the critical programmatic and career development elements of the center. This fund is dedicated to helping the industry build leadership talent in hospitality.

Carroll County Public Schools has drafted a plan to start returning students to school buildings full time, recognizing that previous levels of social distancing likely won’t be possible, which was discussed Wednesday night at an “updates” school board meeting. The Carroll County Board of Education voted Feb. 10 to allow students to return to in-person learning at least four days a week by March 22.

It’s illegal to pass a school bus when it’s stopping or stopped with a stop sign extended and lights flashing. But over and over again drivers ignore that law and do it anyway, putting the lives of student passengers at risk. Now in Howard County, it’ll be much easier to catch the drivers who break that law. Starting March 1, schools buses that serve the Howard County Public School System will have external cameras installed to capture the license plates of drivers who pass buses illegally.

As schools across Maryland prepare for students to return to the classroom in some form, Baltimore City Public Schools plans to offer weekly COVID-19 testing for all students and staff members. The tests will be offered to people regardless of whether they are showing symptoms of the virus or not in an effort to provide early detection of possible cases.