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Around the Community
Executive Order Signed: Indoor Dining Suspended, Mask Required Over Age Of 2 In Baltimore City
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
JULY 23, 2020
By: Staff Reporter BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn
A
n executive order has been signed in Baltimore City suspending indoor dining services in bars and restaurants, as well as requiring masks indoors for anyone over the age of 2. The Mayor Jack Young’s executive order will take effect Friday at 5 p.m. Under the mayor’s executive order, restaurants and bars are permitted to
continue socially distanced outdoor dining, along with offering carryout and delivery services. “I have always stressed that my administration would continuously monitor the data related to COVID-19, and that I would not hesitate to tighten restrictions if the data indicated we should,” Mayor Young said. “Today, I am taking steps to help safeguard and protect our residents, business owners, and their employees. Additionally, those over the age of 2 must wear face coverings whenev-
er they are in public and maintaining a social distance of at least six feet is not possible. City residents are not required to wear face coverings while seated outdoors at a food service establishment. “These decisions were not easy, but are rooted in current data and trends we’re seeing in COVID-19 cases in Baltimore City,” Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said. “When considered together, this information warrants the implementation of restrictions to help halt the further
spread of COVID-19.” The restriction on indoor dining and mandating of wearing cloth face coverings will remain in place for at least two weeks and will be evaluated by health officials daily. The Health Department will monitor the following COVID-19 markers: • Case counts • Case deaths • ICU and acute care hospital bed utilization • Case positivity rates • Number of tests performed
New Organization Offers Free Plug & Play Tablets to Hospital Patients and their Family Members
W
hile the Baltimore Jewish community remains fortunate, bli ayn hara, to have had few people hospitalized due to the virus, all
hospital patients have been affected by the limitations on and even complete banning of most hospital visitation. The importance of family remaining with a hospitalized patient cannot be
overstated, yet this has been mostly impossible for the last few months. WellTab™️ is a new non-profit organization providing the next best thing – free plug & play tablets to patients and their family members in a growing number of locations throughout the country (about twenty so far) and a few more in other countries, when family can’t be physically close by. WellTab tablets help patients and families communicate easily from a safe distance. Keeping families connected with patients helps patients feel more motivated to survive and helps families feel more at ease about the wellbeing of their loved one. Unique features of WellTab tablets include: Continuous Availability: The tablets are active 24/7 and can be the only form of contact a patient has with his/her closest of kin in hospitals and nursing facilities. Privacy & Security: The tablets securely connect one patient tablet to one family tablet. There is not a potentially vulnerable online meeting that can attract trouble makers. Hospital Friendly: Hospital staff can easily pause the tablets for privacy
or protocol purposes. Autopilot: Hospital staff are busy saving lives. The tablets have an autopilot mode so they do not need a nurse to help once they are plugged in near the patient. 24x7 Support: Technical support is available 24x7 (Yes, that is 7 because poskim have determined that this is hatzalas nefashos) to help with any issues. Baltimore Hatzalah ambulances are equipped with WellTab tablets that are configured for use at participating local hospitals. Tablets have already been used at Sinai Hospital, Johns Hopkins and Levendale locally. The WellTab team has already received approval for tablet use in all the major New York City hospitals among many other places and they will help obtain additional approvals from other local Baltimore facilities as needed. Just to highlight one local example, a Baltimore family had been unable to see or communicate with their elderly mother, who is at Levindale, for several months. WellTab helps them feel reconnected to her and enables the family to meaningfully communicate with her at any time. Local Baltimore families of hospital patients who do not receive tablets through Hatzalah can obtain tablets by calling 917-999-0102. This is a free service. After hospitalization, the tablets are returned to a local WellTab distribution center. More information about WellTab is available at https://