Last spring, when Single Carrot Theatre said goodbye to its physical performance space in Remington, the experimental ensemble had no idea then that its outside-the-box plans for nomadic performances across Baltimore would come in so handy in 2020.

“We really wanted to be able to move around the city more, showcase different spaces and neighborhoods, and have a deeper relationship with the people of Baltimore,” says artistic director Genevieve de Mahy, with the company’s 2017 Promenade being a perfect example—a boundary-breaking production aboard a bus with audience members watching out the windows as actors performed scenes on the city streets. “We wanted to invest our money into staff, artists, and art making, not into a facility. We were excited and confident about that decision when we made it. Now, during COVID times, literally not being able to perform in a theater venue, we’ve felt very fortunate.”

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Single Carrot had been in the midst of planning its upcoming 13th season after successful runs of Safe Space, a murder-mystery at the Clifton Mansion in February, and Mr. Wolf, a spin on “Little Red Riding Hood” at the St. John’s Church in October 2019. But when the first cases arrived in Maryland this March and quickly shut down performance spaces, their short list of ideas was quickly scrapped to create a nimble lineup fit for social distancing and quarantine.

After hosting a virtual variety show on Zoom in April and an original play on YouTube Live in July, “We did a lot of thinking about how to pull people away from their screens and out into the real world in a safe way, both for our audience and our ensemble,” says de Mahy. “What’s exciting about this time is that, since the way we’re planning is so short term, it actually allows us to create work that’s really reactive to the current moment.”

In that vein, kicking off their new three-show lineup on September 24 will be Keep Off The Grass: A Guide to [something], an original, interactive theatrical experience addressing the moral questions faced in this turbulent year. It all takes place in the great outdoors and uses a silent, contact-free performance across different stations on the sprawling grounds of the St. John’s Church on Old York Road, where they are currently in residency. Similar to museum audio tours, audience members will follow the plot by downloading a playlist onto their cell phones, with some additional devices available for those in need.

“What other delivery methods can we use to make shows that are exciting and interesting and different than what’s been done before?” poses de Mahy. “We wanted to make sure that these shows provoked important thoughts and questions while also making sure we approach them from a place where we can have fun, laugh, and really satirize what’s happening in the world today.”

On January 13, 2021, Single Carrot will also present Healthy Holly’s Hidden Hideaway, a fully phone-based mystery via call and text that envisions a cast of nefarious characters at the undisclosed location holding Baltimore’s Confederate monuments. Later that spring, on April 30, Is Edward Snowden Single? aims to showcase its small-cast, millennial coming-of-age story in person, COVID willing, with more details to follow.

Even as Governor Hogan announces “stage three” of the state’s COVID-19 recovery plan, including the reopening of live entertainment venues, Baltimore City has maintained “stage two” restrictions, with much remaining uncertain for the theater world. Most of the city’s companies yet to announce their fall performances, but de Mahy considers these times as a pivotal moment that could set the stage for the future.

“My hope is that there is no going back,” says de Mahy. “Yes, we’ll do plays inside again, but theater is right on this crux of figuring out if it’s a dying art or not. There are exciting new forms to explore, and I hope these times push theaters to think differently, and more vibrantly. I also hope that when it is safe to be in person again, there will be this joy and appreciation for going out and doing things and being in a room with people that we took for granted before.”

Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman is worried that Lamar Jackson might talk too loud.

He’s worried that players and coaches from other teams—either watching live or on television replays—will clearly hear what signals the quarterback is yelling out at the line of scrimmage and find a pattern about what play follows, or which direction Jackson runs.

Think of how clear Peyton Manning’s famous “Omaha” call was on national television a few years back. Now put that situation in a mostly empty, cavernous football stadium. (Manning, the future Hall of Fame quarterback, revealed once he retired that the Nebraska city was an “indicator” word to his lineman that he’d changed a play, and gone to “Plan B”.)

Sensitive microphones can easily pick up language from players, coaches, or the sound of a sneeze, especially with no fans in the stands, which will be the case for at least the start of this Ravens season. It’s scheduled to begin next Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium against the Cleveland Browns.

“That’s one of the first things we started talking about,” Roman, the guy who picks the plays that Jackson calls in the huddle and the line of scrimmage, said this week, “how the communication is going to be a lot more evident, based on the fact that it’s not going to be nearly as loud. We’ll definitely mix some things up as we go.” He often holds his hand or play sheet over his goateed mouth so opponents can’t read his lips. A mask might do the job now.

(On a related note, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said the other day, “Don’t they put that lip-sync thing out every year?” referring to the series of hilarious “Bad Lip Reading” videos that have linked nonsensical phrases to the movement of coaches’ mouths, “It’s going to kill that industry.”)

In the grand scheme of this most unusual and chaotic year, sign-stealing and code-breaking probably doesn’t rank high on the list of most people’s daily concerns.

As we work from home with kids hanging from our legs, and others struggle with the challenges of not working at all, we’re simply happy to even be talking and writing about sports, and that games are happening.

(And so are others, evidently. As we were researching something for this article, we noticed a Browns fan must have done some recent editing to M&T Bank Stadium’s Wikipedia page, labeling the Ravens stadium as “aka Baker Mayfield’s house” in the first line and picture caption. Can someone please change that?)

Football will be played, but like most everything else this year, it will be different. Because of the pandemic and government regulations, the Ravens home stadium—aside from the players on the field, coaches on the sidelines, and other team staff—will be empty on game days. Same goes for most road games, depending on the state and if policies change.

Fans know that the Ravens have a provocative in-stadium message during big points of a game. “Every decibel counts,” with a fake sound meter encouraging more. But the noise will literally be manually controlled this year. “It’s always great to have our fans there. They’re always energized,” linebacker Tyus Bowser said recently. “It’s going to be a different vibe.”

In fact, the NFL is reportedly requiring teams to play fake crowd noise to create some semblance of atmosphere (as well as background noise for entertainment and competitive reasons, like Roman said). And stadium staff will be allowed to play loud music until there’s 15 seconds left on the play clock.

In this new work-at-home (stadium) life, everyone who isn’t a player will be required to wear a mask on the sideline or anywhere else. Media interviews, typically done in person in or near the locker rooms, will be held over videoconference, like they have been the last month since training camp began in Owings Mills. Players will continue to be tested for COVID-19 every day. (They’re the most tested people in the country, it seems.) Reporters and team staff will spread out in the press box and capacity will be limited.

And, most notably, the Ravens recently said that cardboard cutouts of paying fans will sit in the purple seats at M&T Bank Stadium, which for the previous 22 years have been occupied by real humans. It’s a trend that other pro sports teams, from South Korean baseball organizations to the NBA bubble in Florida, have tried this year. If you ask us, it’s a brilliant idea.

For $45 if you’re a personal seat license (PSL) holder, or $55 if you’re not, your image can be one of the flat likenesses in the crowd on Sundays, and you can maybe catch the paper version of yourself in the stands while watching on TV. The team will tell you in which section of the stadium you should look. All proceeds from the cutout sales will benefit the Ravens’ COVID-19 relief efforts in the Baltimore area, and you can find more details about how to order yours here.

“Unfortunately, we can’t have fans at the game for the time being, so we wanted to give an opportunity for fans to feel like they were still there,” Deandra Duggans, the Ravens director of advertising and branding, said on the morning news the other day while showing a few examples of what the cutouts could look like.

Twenty-six of the NFL’s 32 teams have announced fanless plans, much like the Orioles have done this year. From a competitive standpoint, for the Ravens, it’s really a shame, given that Super Bowl hopes are very legitimate with Jackson, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, entering the prime years of his career. There should be plenty to cheer for. Originally, the team had plans to have 14,000 people in their roughly 71,000-person capacity stadium. Then the Ravens sent a revised proposal to the city and state with a cap of 7,500 fans at games, but that was shot down last week.

“That’s a bummer,” new Ravens defensive lineman Derek Wolfe said the day the decision was announced. “I’m more bummed out for the fans themselves, because they’re not going to get to [go]. Who knows? Maybe a couple of games in we might be able to start letting some fans in. Maybe by the end of the season, going to the playoffs, we’ve got a full packed stadium.”

We’re not going to blame anyone for being cautious, even with the idea of a crowd 10 percent of a normal one. So, dealing with the current reality, the Ravens have practiced at least three times in the last two weeks in an empty home stadium to get a sense of what the season will look and sound like.

On Wednesday, they practiced in the afternoon to mimic what the light will look like—mainly for Jackson and the wide receivers when they catch and throw, and for kick and punt returners when they look into the sky—during their 1 p.m. season opener against the Browns.

With no preseason games this August, the team ran through substitution patterns and game situations all with ambient noise blaring. After the first stadium practice, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, “It was louder than I thought it was going to be. [It was] probably similar to what you have in the stadium when the crowd is there at a normal level.”

That’s good news for his fourth-year assistant Roman, and Jackson, and anyone else who doesn’t want to worry about other teams hearing what they’re saying.

“It’s different,” Roman said, “but once that ball gets placed and the whistle blows, it’s football. And we have to get ready to play some good football.”

Governor Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that based on the state’s flattening COVID-19 positivity and hospitalization rates, Maryland will begin to move into the state’s next phase of reopening.

As with earlier stages of reopening, individual jurisdictions are empowered to make decisions regarding the timing of the reopening of movie theaters and live entertainment venues, as well as increased capacity at restaurants, retail stores, and religious services.

Baltimore Mayor Jack Young said Wednesday that the city is not yet ready to fully move into the next phase of the reopening guidelines put forth by the Hogan administration. But Baltimore will loosen restrictions in some areas, including restaurants and movie theaters. The city will allow restaurants to open indoor dining to 50 percent capacity next week, Young said during a Wednesday press conference at the War Memorial Building.

Late Wednesday, City officials said movie theaters will be allowed to open Friday at 25 percent of their capacity, according to reporting by The Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said in a statement that the county will align with the state and move into the next phase of the Hogan Administration’s coronavirus recovery plan, allowing theaters to reopen and retail and religious facilities to expand indoor capacity.

“Baltimore County has taken significant steps to combat the COVID-19 pandemic while gradually and safely reopening our economy,” Olszewski said. “Thanks to our efforts, and the efforts of county residents to protect themselves and their loved ones, we’ve seen continued progress. This dangerous disease is still with us and I urge all our residents and businesses to continue to follow the best public health guidance. In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue to strictly enforce state laws and guidelines—any businesses found to be violating face-covering or social distancing mandates will be held accountable.”

According to state metrics, Baltimore County’s positivity rate has remained below 5 percent since July 7, 2020 and is currently 4.4 percent. Baltimore County’s case rate is 1,800 cases per 100,000 residents—35 percent lower than Prince George’s County, 22 percent lower than Baltimore City, and 2 percent lower than Montgomery County.

Face coverings are still required under state and local order. Individuals aged 5 and up must wear face coverings in any indoor business, service, organization, or establishment that serves the general public. Individuals aged 5 and up are also required to wear face coverings when outdoors and unable to consistently maintain at least six feet of distance from those who are not members of their household.

Individuals are not required to wear a mask if eating or drinking while seated, but face coverings are required when otherwise moving in or about a restaurant or bar premises.

“As we move into this third and final stage of our recovery, I want to sincerely thank our doctors, nurses, and public health officials, our small business community, and, most importantly, the people of Maryland who have pulled together over the last five months to respond to this unprecedented challenge with incredible courage and perseverance,” Hogan said.

Last week, Hogan implored local school boards to immediately take action toward reopening schools for in-person classes.

Although the rate of cases has flattened in Maryland in recent weeks, new cases continue to accumulate in the state with 3,833 positive results over the past seven days. Overall, there have been nearly 110,000 confirmed cases in the state. To date, there have been 3,623 coronavirus fatalities in the state, with another 143 probable tests, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s tracking program. Maryland ranks 12th in per capita deaths, tied with Delaware, and just ahead of Pennsylvania.

As part of the state’s new guidelines, the following gradual reopenings are allowed in Maryland:

• Indoor theaters where live performances occur or motion pictures are shown may open to the general public at 50 percent capacity, or 100 people per auditorium—whichever is less—with appropriate health and safety protocols in place.
• Outdoor venues where live performances occur or motion pictures are shown outdoors may open to the general public at 50 percent capacity, or 250 people—whichever is less—with appropriate health and safety protocols in place.
• Capacity for retail establishments and religious facilities may increase from 50 to 75 percent.

Meanwhile, the Stronach Group—which owns the Preakness Stakes—and the Maryland Jockey Club announced Wednesday that the 145th Preakness will be run will without fans in attendance at Pimlico Race Course on Oct. 3.

“The Stronach Group and the Maryland Jockey Club have been working closely in consultation with local and state health and governmental authorities for the past several months to thoughtfully and safely plan for Preakness 145,” Belinda Stronach, chairman and president of The Stronach Group, said in a statement. “While we had hoped to be able to welcome fans as we have for the past 145 years, the health and safety of our guests, horsemen, riders, team members and the community at large is, and will always be, our top priority.”

Before the birth of her first-born daughter this spring, Jennifer Ramsdell had many plans in the making. She attended prenatal yoga in Hampden. She took birthing classes at the Saint Agnes Hospital. She went over every detail with her mother, mother-in-law, and doula, all of whom would be by her side, along with her husband, Dustin, after the baby arrived on April 13.

“I just wanted to have this huge network of women around me,” says the 28-year-old Bolton Hill resident. “We put a lot of thought into what kind of support I was going to have. There would be many helping hands.”

Three months later, Jenn now sits in their quiet home, nursing Eleanor, who was born a week late after 36 hours of labor. Ellie, as they call her, is a calm, curious baby who just learned how to laugh, which is one of the many little moments Jenn wishes she could share with her loved ones. They aren’t here, due to the novel coronavirus that arrived in Maryland just before her newborn.

“No one else can really go through this journey of parenthood but you, figuring out who you are as a woman and a mother, but in isolation, there’s just this extra layer of loneliness,” she says. “It’s the feeling of mourning—mourning what could or should have been. This is supposed to be such an exciting time of community. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, that feels so real now.”

A month before her due date, Jenn watched anxiously as the world struggled to understand this deadline disease and medical guidelines evolved on a seemingly daily basis as new information came into the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization. Before long, she received notice that her doctor’s office would restrict visitors, including partners, for prenatal appointments. Then two weeks out from delivery, word landed that Saint Agnes would only allow one support person at birth, meaning only Dustin, but not her doula or mother, who is immunocompromised, would be present.

“My whole pregnancy suddenly felt like it was spiraling out of control,” says Jenn. “Fear was a huge factor, but there was also this overall frustration, like, holy crap, this is going to impact so many women. I got really worried about the state of motherhood. I knew it was so much larger than just me.”

 

The Ramsdells were one of many millions of families who brought new life into the world this year despite the global pandemic of COVID-19. A baby is born every eight seconds in the United States, but in 2020, hospitals across the country were also inundated with infected patients, while doctors and nurses tried to remain safe themselves, grappling with shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE. Elective procedures were put on hold, appointments moved to telemedicine. All the while, maternity wards carried on. Because if there was one thing the coronavirus couldn’t stop as the rest of humanity ground to a halt, it was the arrival of newborn babies.

“This is a strong group of women,” says Jeanne Sheffield, director of Hopkins’ Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, referring to pregnant mothers during the pandemic. “They have taken on this disease, they have done their research, they have figured out what they need to do to protect themselves and their children. Just watching them, I am incredibly hopeful that we as a society will get through this. Even in the midst of a pandemic, life happens.”

But by early March, as the first coronavirus cases appeared in Maryland, new rules and restrictions were quickly implemented throughout the state, rattling an experience already rife with emotion and uncertainty.

“In those first few weeks, we just knew so little,” says Sheffield, who worked with the CDC to develop pregnancy-related guidelines while helping her patients navigate the unknowns. “It’s still progressing.”

Almost immediately, screening stations were set up outside of hospital entrances, where incoming patients would be asked questions about their health, have their temperatures taken, and sometimes get tested for COVID-19. Masks were also soon required by all visitors, with doctors and nurses donning extra PPE like N95 masks and plastic face shields.

“Patients never see you without a mask on, which can be difficult from their perspective—having this person taking care of you, seeing all of you, but you don’t even know what they look like,” says Rachel Farbman, labor-and-delivery nurse manager at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, whose team helped deliver some 1,500 newborns between March and August, with 10 nurses of their own expecting this year. “Beyond that, not much has changed. Our number one priority is still to have a healthy mom, a healthy baby, and a safe delivery.”

Other changes have included permitting earlier discharges after delivery, with stays in many cases reduced by half, and the temporary closure of some nurseries, allowing more in-room time between mother and baby, which studies say improves sleep and breastfeeding. But the most consequential shift has likely been who else is allowed in the delivery room.

 

“I GOT REALLY WORRIED ABOUT THE STATE OF MOTHERHOOD. I KNEW IT WAS SO MUCH LARGER THAN JUST ME.”

 

Baltimore maternity wards never saw the outright elimination of visitors as was briefly seen in New York City, but like Saint Agnes, the majority moved to allowing only one support person. Some patients actually welcomed the restrictions, affording them the time to rest and recover postpartum without distractions, but others were left with the difficult decision of choosing between partners, mothers, and doulas, aka birth coaches, who provide emotional and physical support during childbirth.

“As doulas, we work for our clients but are at the mercy of the hospital’s protocols, and I don’t think they’re going to be changing anytime soon,” says Odile Penet, who saw her 20-year practice, which works primarily with hospital births, virtually disappear overnight. “Everything happened so fast. You couldn’t get any information. Clients started to reach out and say, ‘What do we do?’ Their support system was crashing down, and, of course, they were afraid of going to the hospital and being contaminated. We adapted, because that’s what we do as doulas. Every time we go to a birth, we have to adapt.”

This time, adapting meant pivoting to virtual support for her clients, through prenatal and postpartum care, as well as childbirth, even witnessing labor via video apps like Facetime, Zoom, and Skype.

“It was magical, and very strange—basically, we can still be there with our clients, we can help them advocate for themselves and give the partner all of the pieces to be their own super doula, but long term, it definitely won’t replace the physical presence,” says Penet, who hopes to see doulas deemed essential workers.

Given these circumstances, more and more women are even deciding to avoid hospitals entirely, instead choosing to deliver from the comfort of their own homes. It’s a continuation of a trend seen over the last two decades, with out-of-hospital births increasing by 72 percent between 2004 and 2014, according to a 2016 joint study by the University of Maryland and Boston University.

“We’ve had a major influx of clients and we’re busier than ever,” says Bayla Berkowitz, founder of Charm City Midwives. In fact, they’ve had to turn people away, now being fully booked through November and receiving inquiries into the New Year. “It’s nice to see so many people realizing that home birth is a safe, viable option, changing the status quo.”

Accounting for about one percent of all babies born in the United States, home births come with their own set of risks—they are recommended for mothers who are low-risk and without pre-existing conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. But in light of the coronavirus, some still prefer the approach to hospital settings. Like obstetricians, Berkowitz’s team also follows CDC guidelines and wears N95 masks during all visits, including delivery, but does not limit visitors, within reason. She says it’s that personalized support system that draws many mothers to midwifery, especially these days.

Indeed, that’s what inspired Jinji Fraser and her husband, Paul, to change their birth plan in June. In late February, just as the coronavirus began its spread across America, the couple learned they were pregnant with their first child—a boy, due on Halloween. Originally planning to deliver at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, the 37-year-old Lauraville resident connected with a local midwife and doula, and after meeting all of the necessary health requirements, switched to a home birth in her second trimester.

“Having a baby is so big—I can’t believe my body has done this much so far, I can’t believe that a life is surviving inside of me, I couldn’t believe it when I got pregnant, either,” says Jinji, who never thought she’d have children. “Almost immediately, it felt like this was the only thing that I had to do.”

In addition to concerns surrounding COVID-19, as a Black woman, Jinji found herself at the intersection of another health crisis: the racial disparities of childbirth, with Black women four to five times more likely to die during pregnancy than their white counterparts, according to the CDC.

“I just couldn’t believe it, then I started reading, and then I just crumbled under the facts and the reality that I was slipping into,” she says. “I broke down to my midwife about a month ago and told her I was afraid I was going to die. But I’m really lucky that I can afford care that insurance doesn’t cover. If I had to be in the hospital, which is the circumstance for probably 99 percent of Black women in Baltimore, then what? I’d still just be sitting here scared.”

Pregnancy has been a mix of both fear and joy for Jinji, but now, nearing her third trimester, she’s beginning to feel excited—seeing Paul read his parenting books, transforming their home office into a nursery, and finding faith in the racial justice movement taking place across the country, in many ways counting its convergence with the additional time and slower pace of the coronavirus as an unforeseen blessing. This summer, with her newly round belly, she donned a face mask and marched in the streets of Baltimore, holding a sign above her head that read, “Black mamas lives matter.”

“I am so grateful that this moment has been mine,” she says. “It’s just his time to be here. I think those of us who are doing this have been chosen, whether we knew it or not. It couldn’t have been another way.”

 

“I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT THIS MOMENT HAS BEEN MINE. IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN ANOTHER WAY.”

 

Of course, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases in Maryland as of press time, it was inevitable that some pregnant women would eventually contract the coronavirus, and much still remains unknown about the disease’s impact on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.

 “We’re now well over 150 pregnant women in the Hopkins system who have had COVID-19,” says Sheffield, whose team constructed a labor-and-delivery biocontainment unit for positive patients. “Fortunately, the majority—80 to 85 percent—are asymptomatic. Another 10 percent have mild symptoms, like cough or congestion or anosmia, where they can’t smell. We’ve only had a handful of women who have actually required ICU care.”

Mia Taylor is one of the latter cases, having contracted the virus in her last trimester. In a matter of days, the active, healthy, 39-year-old could barely walk, talk, or breathe, and was admitted into the COVID unit at GBMC, where, aside from the doctors and nurses dressed head-to-toe in PPE, visitors were forbidden. Three long and lonely days later, her water broke.

“I was so scared, I didn’t know if I was going to survive, if my baby was going to survive—I thought, I can barely breathe, how am I going to have this baby?” she says. “But I tried to keep calm, and once I got to the point of delivery, I was no longer worrying about breathing or even thinking. I was just worried about having my baby. I don’t know how I did it but by the grace of God.”

Tougher still was the fact that mother and newborn were quickly separated, with her daughter, Melaina, born four weeks early and coronavirus-free on June 6,  transferred to the NICU and Mia back to the COVID unit. The nurses Facetimed her often, but it would be another five weeks before she finally tested fully negative and held her baby—now more than one month old—in her arms for the first time.

“It breaks my heart, it really does—I missed out on that moment to bond with her, that one-on-one time that’s so important,” says Mia, who also lost precious weeks with her one-year–old, Taylor. (The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends most COVID-related separations.) “I wanted to be there, I wanted to take care of her. But at this point, I’m just grateful. My daughter is so strong. She just eats and sleeps. She doesn’t cry. She is such a good baby.”

Mia has regained her health, as well. She can now breathe freely, and her appetite and sense of smell have both returned. But the fear still lingers. She’s afraid to leave her house in Woodlawn for the chance that she might get sick again, but she plays with her kids inside, and occasionally, they all put on their masks together and head to the park for some fresh air.

“I wanted to kick the ground when I got out of the hospital because I was just so happy to see the sunlight,” she says. “I’m just so grateful, to hold my daughter, to be with my family—to be alive.”

Citing lowering coronavirus positivity rates in the state, Gov. Larry Hogan implored local school boards to immediately take action toward reopening schools for in-person classes at a press conference in Annapolis Thursday afternoon.

All 24 school districts in Maryland will begin the 2020-2021 academic year with online instruction only. Hogan repeatedly pointed out that 16 districts currently have plans to bring some students back this fall in hybrid models, but other school districts have decided to wait until the start of the second semester to physically reopen—a cautionary timeline he does not support.

Baltimore City—which welcomed back teachers and staff this week—and Baltimore County,  as well as Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Calvert counties issued statements that they have no intention of foregoing their virtual opening. During a virtual meeting Thursday, Baltimore County Public Schools community superintendent Christina Byers said that while the county school system acknowledges the governor’s recommendations, it is not in a position to immediately address in-person instruction.

Byers said that local superintendents and boards did not receive any advanced notice about the details of Thursday’s announcement.

Hogan, taking a strident tone at times, alleged those boards, as well as administrators, teachers unions, and associations, have failed to do the “hard work [that] lies in developing the safe reopening plans.” “This is simply not acceptable,” the governor said.

“As a result of our improved health metrics, every single county school system in the state of Maryland is now fully authorized to begin safely reopening,” Hogan continued. “Nearly everyone agrees that there is no substitute for in-person instruction. It is essential that we all work together on flexible hybrid plans to safely get some of our kids back into classrooms and into healthy and supportive learning environments.”

By law, the governor of the state does not have the power to mandate when schools open, which is a decision left to local school boards.

In his remarks, Hogan noted encouraging reports that the statewide positivity rate has dropped to 3.3 percent from a peak of 26.9 percent in mid-April.

The benchmark for generally safe reopening of public buildings, according to the CDC, is a 5 percent positivity rate. Maryland’s overall rate has been below 4 percent since August 8, according to state health department methodology. Hogan also stressed that the positivity rate among Marylanders under the age of 35 has now fallen below to 3.79 percent.

That said, Towson University, like other colleges around the country, has already been forced to cancel in-person learning and close residence halls after a concerning number of students tested positive for the coronavirus just before classes resumed this week. In Baltimore City, the Department of Public Works announced Thursday it was suspending curbside recycling pickup because of staff shortages due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Maryland Senate Majority Leader Bill Ferguson, a former teacher, said he appreciated the Hogan Administration’s publishing of new health metrics for school reopening statewide, but also stated that the new information comes late in the process with schools so close to reopening. 

“These metrics are critical for Maryland schools to have the framework for in-person reopening,” Ferguson tweeted. He added, however, that “expecting districts, administrators, educators, and families to flip the switch in 10 days is simply unreasonable.”

Cheryl Bost, the president of the Maryland State Education Association, expressed frustration with the governor’s rhetoric in a statement late Thursday.

“At a time when educators are focused on working hard to make the best of this year for students, the governor and [state Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon, who joined Hogan] are focused on throwing school communities under the bus,” Bost said. “We need collaboration and problem-solving, not political theater.”

Bost stated that Gov. Hogan and the superintendent had previously “abdicated responsibility for creating reopening standards and told districts to come up with their own plans, indicating appropriate confidence that local school systems would do what is best for students.”

“In the continued absence of adequate state and federal funds to help schools open safely—to include measures such as rapid testing, certified ventilation systems and needed PPE—this is a recipe for chaos, confusion, distrust, and deepening the inequities that too many of our students face,” Bost said.

Salmon announced the state is making $10 million in grant funding available to help systems that are able to move toward in-person instruction.

“While adherence to these metrics for re-entry into classrooms are not considered requirements, I am strongly encouraging local school systems to utilize our improving numbers and the provided metrics as the driving force for the decision to return to school buildings,” Salmon said. “Health and safety precautions must remain in place once we begin to bring more students back into schools, and school systems should continue to work in conjunction with local health officials to monitor trends in the metrics and any outbreaks at area schools.”

The issues around school reopening are complicated. Educators are concerned about student safety, as well as their own health and that of their families, while also scrambling to address the digital divide. Economists are also worried about the impact on economic recovery if schools don’t reopen. Without schools reopening, many parents will have trouble returning to work.

Hogan dismissed partisan concerns around his push to reopen schools, noting that the Democratic governors of New York and New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy, have issued similar statements about reopening classrooms.

Dr. Jinlene Chan, acting deputy secretary for public health services at the Maryland Department of Health, who also spoke at the press conference, sounded a more measured approach than the governor. She said that the new metrics and the guidance being offered at this time by the state is designed to aid in decision-making rather than serve as prescriptive policy.

“There is flexibility that schools have to make decisions about how to best meet the educational needs of their students while taking into account the level of community spread and their capacity to implement the guidelines,” Chan said.

This spring, one saving grace during the spread of the coronavirus across the state has been access to Maryland’s great outdoors. And now with Governor Hogan’s eased restrictions on many outdoor activities, as well as the stay-home order lifted for non-Baltimoreans, there are plenty of ways to safely get some more fresh air. Here’s the latest on getting outside during the continuing times of COVID-19. One key takeaway: not all has returned to normal.

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PARKS

Maryland’s dozens of state parks offer a great escape during the times of a global health crisis. From the mountains of Western Maryland to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, most have remained open throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but several previously closed locations will now reopen as well, including Sandy Point outside of Annapolis, Assateague on the Eastern Shore, and Swallows Falls in Western Maryland.

Plan ahead for potential filled-to-capacity closures at the likes of Patapsco Valley, North Point, and Gunpowder’s Hammerman Area, as well as continued closed portions, such as the Houck Area of Cunningham Falls in Thurmont, certain trails at Elk Neck in Cecil County, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Cambridge. All visitor’s centers, administrative buildings, nature centers, and most concessions also remain close, while playgrounds have reopened for kids and families. All visitors are encouraged to social distance, as well as provide their own soap or hand sanitizer, stay home if sick, and visit parks close to their homes.

Meanwhile, all Baltimore City and County parks are still open to the public, as they also have been throughout the pandemic, with social distancing and face coverings encouraged, though the use of playgrounds and exercise equipment continues to be prohibited. The Canton, Latrobe, and Howard Street dog parks are limited to a maximum of five visitors at a time, while the Patterson Park dog park is limited to 10.

CAMPING

If one thing is certain in these uncertain times, there’s never been a better one to sleep under the stars. With the wide-scale reopening of state parks, several state-owned campgrounds, which typically make up some 2,000 campsites, will also begin reopening on a gradual basis for tent and RV camping, though cabin rentals currently remain closed as locations consider reopening strategies. All campers must be with immediate family members or people with whom they reside, in groups of no more than 10, and abiding by social distancing guidelines. For reservations, visit the Department of Natural Resources’s website.

BEACHES

With the announcement of the lifting of the state’s stay-home order, we could almost feel the traffic begin to build at the Bay Bridge. Though previously closed in their entirety, all state-owned beaches, including Hammerman Beach at Gunpowder Falls, as well as Hart-Miller Island, Calvert Cliffs, and Assateague have now reopened, though do note that the latter’s National Seashore is still off-limits. Under social distancing guidelines, most forms of outdoor exercise can resume, such as walking, running, swimming, and fishing. But leave the seating home, as chairs, blankets, and picnics are still prohibited.

Meanwhile, Ocean City has reopened to the general public with social distancing and gathering limitations in place. It’s largely business as usual, besides beachcombers being encouraged to remain at least six feet apart and in groups no larger than 10. Lifeguards are on duty for swimming, boardwalk restaurants are open for carryout, and lodgings have since reopened to visiting guests. Up the road, however, out-of-state visitors are still prohibited from the likes of Dewey, Rehoboth, and Bethany beaches until at least May 31 under Delaware’s stay-home order, which remains in place. Many restrictions apply to locals, as well, such as bans on sunbathing, swimming, and surfing.

BOATING

After weeks of pressure on Governor Hogan, recreational boating is back on the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding waterways. In addition to personal watercraft like kayaks and canoes, the use of both motor and sail boats is once again permitted after a brief hiatus during the recent stay-home order.

All boaters must be with immediate family members or those with whom they reside and in accordance of social distancing guidelines. Regardless of vessel size, parties larger than 10 are prohibited, as are gatherings on the likes of piers, boat ramps, beaches, or via raft-ups, in addition to docking at waterfront restaurants. Many marinas have already reopened, though they may do so at their own discretion, so be sure to call ahead. Be it on water or land, recreational fishing has reopened, too, where standard rules and regulations still apply.

GOLF

If there was ever an ideal sport for social distancing in the great outdoors, golf would be it, and sod is once again soaring across the state, with Maryland courses now permitted to reopen at their own discretion. Open greens in the Baltimore area include Bulle Rock in Havre De Grace, Rocky Point in Essex, Greystone in White Hall, and Fox Hollow in Timonium, as well as all Classic Five courses, with tee times reserved online and all high-touch items removed from clubhouses, cars, and ranges. Restrictions and safety measures vary from location to location, though all golf carts are limited to two players from the same household.

Each month, we’re amazed by the musical talent of this city’s artistic community, but never has it been more apparent than in the age of coronavirus, acting as both a salve and a source of hope. Even from quarantine, artists are continuing to hone their craft, and their fans can still show their support by purchasing music and and merch. In this month’s The Big Baltimore Playlist, we showcase 10 local songs to listen to right now, ranging from pandemic jingles to iconic cover songs and uplifting original hip hop. Check back each month for new top songs of the moment, and follow our Spotify playlist for a soundtrack to the city.

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“No To Corona” by Butch Dawson

Leave it to Butch Dawson to drop the city’s first coronavirus anthem. Over a murky, moody beat, the punk-infused rapper and tongue-in-cheek wordsmith turns a hand-washing jingle into hard-knocking hip-hop. Along the way, he covers all the bases: personal hygiene, social distancing, disinfectant products, protective equipment, and more. It’s a touch of levity—and legitimate advice—in the strange times of COVID.

“Haven” by :3ION*

Few musicians know how to pull our heartstrings quite like Elon Battle, or :3ION, whose electronic R&B melodies continually evolve the modern love song. On this ethereal new single, the singer-songwriter’s falsetto vocals float light as a feather, lilting over a twinkling melody that glitches in and out like the state between sleep and wake. The repeated decrescendo lyrics reassure romantic loyalty, even or especially through hardship, which could likely be related to by many a listener these days.

“Now I Live in Truth” by Greg Hatem*

Local musician and Natural Velvet drummer Greg Hatem has released a new solo album, Springlight, that loosely recollects a psychedelic journey, with this final song marking the trip’s end. Swirling in effusive synth and technicolor soundscapes, it’s a futuristic pop melody, shedding the deep, dystopian tones of the record’s previous tracks, arriving with spring-like newness at a place of buoyant clarity. It seems to remind us: there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

“Quarantined Sax” by QueenEarth*

One of the cures for coronavirus anxiety? We don’t have a medical degree, but we think it’s safe to say: Jazz. And thanks to acoustic singer-songwriter QueenEarth, we now have a whole album of instrumental, jazz-influenced tracks from her new Queer Core: Songs for Isolation. We found this fifth track particularly soothing, fueled by serpentine saxophone and sprightly keys, allowing us to finally unwind in its instrumental interplay. Be sure to check out “Piano Lesson” while you’re at it, too.

“Back the Hale Up” by Landis Expandis*

And just like that, another quarantine track we never knew we needed until now, thanks to musical dynamo Landis Expandis, or rather, LHL—aka Landis-Harry-Larry—with the beloved DJ/singer’s two alter egos also in tow. The music video for this funky, infectious tune is half the fun, with Landis’s doppelgängers performing bubbly synth over a steady drum machine beat in matching outfits in the middle of a grocery store aisle. Meanwhile, the lead singer’s playful lyrics recount a trek to the store and the interactions had there with those folks who just don’t get social distancing. You know who you are.

“Everything” by Mateyo, Al Rogers Jr., and Josh Stokes

This winter track by a trifecta of Baltimore talent is, indeed, everything we need to get us through moments of quarantine doldrums and remind us that summer is still yet to come. A boppy, effervescent beat by local producer Matthew Lampart, aka Mateyo, serves as the undulating backdrop for the honeyed chorus croons of singer-drummer extraordinaire Josh Stokes and the feel-good, free-flowing verses of rapper Al Rogers Jr., both speaking to the simple necessity of love.

“Quite Some Time” by Modern Nomad

Modern Nomad has become one of our go-to bands for the sort of sun-soaked nostalgic dream-pop that transports us to brighter, warmer, carefree days. Possessing a meditative quality, the local quintet’s ’70s-tinged tunes can sound like swimming in the mesmerizing flow of a lava lamp or walking in a smoke-swirled haze down a California beach. Lose yourself in this new track, featuring reverberating guitar, peppy keys, and Tom McLean’s soft, sleepy vocals, bringing his most intimate truth to light.

“Angel from Montgomery” by Outer Spaces*

In the age of home concerts, our favorites might just be those of the incredible mounting collection of old folk and Americana cover songs by singer-songwriter Cara Beth Satalino. This heartbreaking acoustic rendition of John Prine’s 1971 classic arrived at the end of March as news broke that the legendary musician was in critical condition with the coronavirus. He would pass a week later, but his influence remains, as does this ode, with the Outer Space’s frontwoman’s raw, slow-burning vocals making it all her own.

“Glue” by Shinji*

This shimmering new single from indie-pop quartet Shinji is a perfect soundtrack for the continual daydream that is quarantine. With jangling drums, aching guitar strings, and hazy New Wave synth, it evokes the best of the 1980s and the youthful ennui of other lifetimes. “Alone, on my phone, is where I will be,” sings frontman Josh Frazier in distant reverie. Us, too, listening to this tune.

“My Year” by T.Ali

Consider T.Ali a Baltimore artist to watch, with this spring single showing the pure-hearted promise of the rising rapper. A comeback anthem imbued with old-school influence and founded in both hardship and hope, his earnest verses feature smart rhymes and measured flow, with assists from fellow city artists Miss Kam and Chris Cassius. Be sure to also dig into his just released debut album, Since We’re Being Honest.

*Not on Spotify. We’ll add it to the playlist if it comes online.

The entertainment industry—and movies in particular—has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus.

Tons of films have shut down production or been delayed. And then there’s the larger, perhaps even more concerning question: Will people want to go back to movie theaters, where we’re all sitting in close proximity, munching on snacks, laughing, and breathing the same air?

Of course, there is one way to see a movie in public without having to sit near a bunch of strangers: You guessed it, drive-in movie theaters.

Drive-in theaters, once a staple of American culture, have waned to the point of near extinction today. (There are reportedly 350 left in the country, down from a peak of about 4,000 in the 1950s.) But is it possible that the theaters of the past might become the theaters of the future?

There is one famous drive-in movie theater right here in Maryland—Bengies Drive-In in Middle River, in business since 1956—which is sure hoping that’s the case.

“It does make a lot of sense,” says Ken Adam, Bengies’ general manager. “I’d love to see more drive-ins.”

Adam has even heard that some of the big chain theaters—“the indoors” as he calls them—are considering some sort of model where they show films in their parking lots. But that would take a complete reinvention for those chains. Bengies already has the infrastructure.

Adam says that many customers have assumed that Bengies is open—and are “itching” for the theater to start showing movies again.

“We get lots of messages throughout the week from people asking if we’re open, asking about showtimes,” he says.

For now, they’re abiding by Governor Hogan’s social distancing guidelines, but they are discussing strategies for when the theater does reopen. And they do suspect they’ll get the green light before the big chains—with a caveat.

“Film studios are not going to release their big titles until everybody’s open,” he says. “So [when we do open], we’ll be limited to older films and revivals.”

As for the concessions stand, he says it’s unlikely they will turn to a carhop style model. He likens the Bengies concessions to a take-out restaurant.

“It’s a large snack bar in an open field,” he says, noting that it will be easy to stand six feet apart while getting your Coke and popcorn.

Meanwhile, the theater is doing its best to stay positive and use what it has at its disposal—namely its iconic art deco marquee—to send out a message of encouragement to its customers.

An earlier marquee message read: “Governor Hogan’s Rules To Live By. Avoid Crowds. Stay Home. Practice Distance. Wash Hands. Wash Hands. Wash. Protect Others By Protecting You.”

The current marquee reads: “Don’t Leave Home Without It!: The Mask” and “Stuck At Home? Dwell on What You Can Do, Not What You Can’t.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Just weeks after Governor Hogan deemed farmers markets as essential businesses, allowing them to remain open throughout the coronavirus pandemic, a blow to the local food system landed with the announcement that the Maryland Farmers Market Association (MDFMA) would be closing its doors, effective this past Friday.

Citing financial challenges, the nonprofit organization lost one of its primary grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was confounded by shifting funding availability following the outbreak of COVID-19, such as a hold on local agricultural dollars following Maryland’s mandated state spending freeze.

“For a small group that runs on a shoestring budget and is driven by passion, those grants can take you far,” says Juliet Glass, external relations director for the MDFMA, who is one half of the recent two-woman staff with market programs director Heather Hulsey. “We were working hard to find a sustainable path forward, but with the pandemic, it just became increasingly difficult. And we are not unique, there are small food system nonprofits across the country that are just a breath away from not being able to operate.”

Since its founding in 2012, the MDFMA has played a vital role for farmers, farmers markets, and the communities they feed across the state, acting as a sort of unofficial governing body. Over the last seven years, they’ve worked to improve fresh food access, such as increasing the number of markets that accept the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income citizens to nearly 50 percent, and support the livelihoods for farmers, through the likes of promotion, advocacy, and financial assistance.

“From the beginning, they were a unifying entity,” says Beau Johnson, board of directors’ vice president for the 32nd Street Farmers Market in Waverly. “They really connected all of these little independent islands and brought us together as an extended farmers market family with a larger common goal.”

Farmers markets will continue to operate without the MDFMA, but over the last month, its value has become increasingly apparent in the face of a global health crisis. With empty grocery store shelves and growing support of local food, the organization has stepped up to educate farmers on how to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, with efforts including sharing COVID-related safety guidelines, creating a marketing toolkit for their newfound demand, and continuing to inform the public about how to participate in the local food system. Their Google Map directory of regional producers has been viewed more than 60,000 times since its launch in early March.

“The MDFMA was really the force multiplier for farmers markets,” says Mariya Strauss, executive director of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore, a network of urban farming producers and advocates. “They were the group that coordinated efforts and convened local food producers across the state, and they had the perspective to see what would benefit everyone. I’m worried about who is going to play that role going forward.”

Other local, state, and nonprofit organizations will work to fill in certain gaps, with support networks for regional farmers already in place at the likes of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, University of Maryland Extension offices, and Future Harvest, a regional nonprofit focused on sustainable agriculture.

“Our doors might be closed, but we’re still open for business,” notes Ginger Myers, Extension’s agricultural marketing specialist. “We don’t have a central clearing house anymore, if you will, and markets themselves are going to have to pick up the ball more to get the word out to their customers.”

“This is a symptom of a much larger issue,” says Dena Leibman, executive director of Future Harvest. “It’s just so ironic that at this particular time in our history an organization like the MDFMA can’t raise the funds it needs to keep going. It’s not their fault, the resources are really scarce, and our government just continues to underestimate the importance of a strong local and regional food system. It put all its eggs in a large global supply chain, and now we’re seeing the effects of that.”

Perhaps the MDFMA’s most important contribution, though, has been its Maryland Market Money program, an initiative that monetarily matches purchases made with federal nutrition benefits at participating farmers markets throughout the state. With just two markets when the program launched in 2013, there are now 36 involved across 11 jurisdictions, including the likes of the 32nd Street, JFX, and Druid Hill Park farmers markets in Baltimore City, with food insecure Marylanders spending $455,000 in federal benefits last year across some 461 farms.

“Losing a statewide incentive program is really hard and the people who are going to suffer the most are those on the lowest socioeconomic ladder,” says Glass. “For folks on a very limited food budget, a five-dollar match can be the difference of an extra meal. This helps people eat healthier food, and for farmers, those five-dollar purchases add up.”

The news came on the heels of the Trump administration’s attempts to cut federal food stamp funding that would have resulted in the loss of benefits by some 700,000 SNAP recipients nationwide, though in the wake of heavy criticism, the USDA has since backed off.

But with some city and county funding already secured for Maryland for 2020, the hope is that another local organization can incorporate Maryland Market Money into their work, and some groups have already expressed interest. Meanwhile, market managers like Johnson are scrambling to match the funding on their own.

“Not everyone understands the economies of scale of farmers markets, that prices might seem higher than at grocery stores, but the cost of production on a half-acre farm in Baltimore City or a five-acre farm in Baltimore County is very different than a 100-acre farm in California that sells wholesale,” say Neith Little, urban agriculture educator at the University of Maryland Extension in Baltimore City. “Maryland Market Money helped bridge the gap for customers with limited resources. It made it more possible for those on SNAP and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) to participate in the local food system.”

Strauss sees this as a loss for the farmers themselves, too, noting that the MDFMA has been a steady source of resources, information, and technical assistance for Farm Alliance members. She recalls the way in which its staff would readily hop on the phone and walk their farmers through lengthy federal application processes for the likes of SNAP certification.

Even throughout this weekend after the association’s doors were officially closed, they continued to use social media to share updated coronavirus information and availability news, like the arrival of asparagus and strawberries.

“They were one of the few statewide groups that was really looking out for the smallest of the small farms and businesses,” says Strauss. “We are going to continue to grow food and bring it to market and hope that all of the good people around the state who are interested in having a sustainable local food system can come together and figure out how to fill this void. But losing the Maryland Farmers Market Association is going to be hard on all of us.”

A soap maker and a tattoo artist walk into a meadery. This might sound like a comedic set-up, but rather, far from it, it’s the sort of unlikely trio of Baltimore craftsmen who have quickly come together to help combat the novel coronavirus and its rapid spread across the city and state.

In early March, when Maryland confirmed its first case of COVID-19, the Mount Royal Soap Company started using its 20-quart stock pot, typically reserved for making artisanal suds and skincare products, to start testing recipes for hand sanitizer, a scarce resource since the very start of the pandemic.

At the time, there was already a global run on antibacterial products like Purell, and the Remington soapery founders wanted to supply their neighborhood in a time of need. The three-man team infused their first version with a so-called “four thieves” blend of essential oils—said to have been used during the Middle Ages to ward off the Black Death plague—and started selling directly to local customers out of their 700-square-foot corner store.

“It got to the point where we were making batch after batch after batch,” says Sam Kiffer, one of Mount Royal’s co-founders. “As things escalated, it became apparent we needed a larger capacity.”

Luckily, they quickly found a bigger boat, located five minutes away at Charm City Meadworks on Biddle Street. Having collaborated in the past on events and workshops, the business owners had been friends for years. With mead sales down following social distancing measures implemented by Governor Larry Hogan, the meadery’s 7,500-square-foot warehouse offered ample room for production, and Meadworks founder James Boicourt was looking for a way to keep his staff of nearly 20 employed.

Then the Mayor’s Office called, requesting 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, and this new joint venture was up and running, with Meadworks and Mount Royal converting into a hand sanitizer factory overnight.

“The last few weeks has been this huge scramble to move forward as fast as possible,” says Boicourt. “We started out doing test batches of 30 or 40-gallons. Now we’re trying to get to a point of 1,000 gallons a day.”

Working seven days a week, their joint staffs runs several shifts, including nights, to meet demand and ensure employee safety, with workers practicing social distancing and wearing personal protective gear like gloves and masks.

Together, they’re now producing some 4,000 bottles each day, packaged in two, four, or eight ounce units for area hospitals, nonprofits, and city and state services, including the Baltimore City Police Department, Fire Department, and the U.S. Postal Service. The general public can also purchase their own sanitizer on Mount Royal’s website.

“The urgency is really what drives us,” says Kiffer. “So much has happened and changed, we’ve learned so much.”

And they’re hoping to ramp up production, having invested in new equipment that could bring their daily capacity to 25,000 bottles, a fivefold increase. But Meadworks’ existing infrastructure, including two 1,200-gallon mixing tanks, has already played an important role.

As makers of a fermented honey beverage, “We’re used to working with viscous liquids,” says Boicourt, helping them to produce a thicker gel formula, which is still scented in the “four thieves” style, in addition to the World Health Organization’s more liquid version, which is better suited for spray applications.

But with a worldwide spike in demand and disrupted supply chains across most sectors, sanitizer manufacturers, big and small, have been struggling to source key ingredients, which include alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and glycerin.

“It’s a shock to the system,” says Boicourt. “Even if Purell runs three shifts, they can’t keep up. But the hope is that all of these smaller producers can help fill in the gaps,” with other alcohol producers across the state joining in, like Baltimore Spirits Company in Medfield, DuClaw Brewing Co. in Rosedale, and Lyon Rum on the Eastern Shore.

For that reason, though, none of this could be possible without their third partner, Waverly Color Company, a producer of high-end tattoo ink run by Bill Stevenson. Also co-founder Waverly Brewing in Hampden, he operates out of a studio just down the street from Mount Royal’s Remington shop. With the closure of non-essential businesses and the tattoo trade on hiatus, his stockpile of plastic bottles was the last piece of the puzzle, being another in-demand item with a backorder through summer.

“It was the perfect fit at the right time,” says Stevenson, whose right-hand man is working the line, too. “The nature of community is to immediately figure out what can be done for your people, it’s a natural reaction to think what can I do. And that’s what we’re doing.”

These days, Boicourt is running the logistics from home, having had a high-risk lung condition since childhood, while his Meadworks teammates, like general manager Elliot Madre, act as his eyes and ears on the ground. In addition to wrangling orders, Mount Royal co-owner Pat Illes helps oversee operations at the warehouse, while Williams has been churning out liquid soap back in Remington, teaming up with Bayview’s Pompeian Olive Oil to source a larger tank for increased production.

Their soap bars are flying off the shelves, too, with large donations made to the Douglas Homes in East Baltimore and the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. Sanitizer has also been handed out to the Service Employees International Union’s local chapter and the nonprofit Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition.

“We realized early on that this pandemic is going to infect everyone, but it’s going to affect certain segments of our population worse than others,” says Illes, noting a pay-it-forward option for purchases that benefit local community organizations in need. “We want to make sure everyone in our community is getting the resources they need to protect themselves.”

For Mount Royal, this newfound mission has given them new meaning, and it might live on past the days of this current pandemic.

“We haven’t thought about what an end date would look like, but we hope this is a jumping off point for us,” says Kiffer. She and her teammates are excited by the possibility of providing jobs and essential products using their environmentally and ethically sourced ethos for the city and state in the long term.

“There’s this broader idea that manufacturing needs to be more regional going forward, because what happens when the next crisis happens?,” says Williams. “Maybe we’ll be a little bit better prepared here in Baltimore. This is an ode to the city’s manufacturing history, for sure, and we’re humbled to be a part of it in some small way.”

As news of coronavirus cancellations and closures began to take root across Maryland, the Baltimore arts community got creative. If crowds could no longer fill their concert halls and performance venues, artists of every stripe would now make their works and talent viewable from living room sofas. In the ensuing weeks, dozens of virtual events have popped up on the internet, from social media to brand-new website landing pages, by city artists, musicians, thespians, curators, and more, with the list only growing each day. Luckily, the Maryland State Arts Council has created a running tab for the likes of online galleries, livestream concerts, and arts classes. Check out our list below, with updates added throughout the coming weeks.

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Music for the Masses

Ken and Brad Kolodner
5/29. Facebook Live & YouTube. 8 p.m. $10-20 suggested donation.
On Friday night, father-son Old Time-Americana duo Ken and Brad Kolodner will perform their original and traditional tunes from the comforts of their own living rooms.

Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District’s Mini May Concerts
5/30. Instagram Live. 8-10 p.m. Free.
Pennsylvania Avenue’s new Black Arts & Entertainment District presents its final May concert featuring The Voice star Davon Fleming, rappers Dapper Dan Midas, Tate Kobang, and Deetrana, and hip-hop artist J. Pope, among others.

A Latinx Virtual Celebration of Class of 2020
5/30. Livestream. 8 p.m. Free. $10 donations encouraged. Registration required.
The Roots & Raices festival presents a virtual celebration of the Latinx members of the class of 2020 with DJs, donated taco kits for students through Cocina Luchadoras, and more.

WTMD’s Saturday Morning Tunes
5/30. Instagram Live & Facebook Live. 9 a.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
Gather the kids and start your weekend with 89.7’s morning concert series, featuring live performances by musicians such as Americana songwriter Elliott Park, South African music therapist Jon Samson, and bilingual singer Sonia De Los Santos.

Baltimore Choral Arts Society’s Virtual Singing Series
6/1. Zoom. 7:30 p.m. Free. Registration required.
The Choral Arts Society presents a new community singing event with music director Anthony Blake Clark and associate conductor Leo Wanenchak rehearsing iconic vocal masterworks with virtual audiences, followed by a Q&A session.

Letitia VanSant
6/3. Facebook. 8 p.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
Local singer-songwriter and Americana vocal powerhouse Letitia VanSant will be performing an acoustic living room concert to support Club Passim, a historic Massachusetts music venue, featuring new music and favorite covers. Requests welcome.

WTMD’s Virtual First Thursday
6/4. Facebook Live. 8 p.m. Free.
In leiu of a large gathering at the Canton Waterfront Park, WTMD is hosting its first First Thursday of the season in a new virtual format, with live performances by pop-soul musician Allen Stone, blues-folk artist Fantastic Negrito, soul revival band Chicano Batman, Baltimore post-punk duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, local beloved DJ Landis Expandis, and more.

Cris Jacobs
Tuesdays. Facebook Live. 8 p.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
The beloved musician has started performing regular at-home solo sessions, performing old favorites as well as songs from his latest record, Color Where You Are, with a portion of tips donated to a new charity every week.

Baltimore Choral Arts Society presents Music with the Maestro
Thursdays. Facebook Live. 5:45 p.m. Free.
Spend your Thursday happy hour with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society with at-home performances like Mahler’s 8th Symphony and interviews with fellow orchestra leaders like maestro Marion Alsop of the BSO.

Peabody Watch Party
Fridays. peabody.jhu.edu/live. 7:30 p.m. Free.
Tune in on Friday nights with the Peabody Institute community for previously recorded performances by the Peabody Symphony and Youth orchestras.

GRL PWR presents Virtual Hangs
Fridays. Instagram Live. 2 p.m. Free.
Helmed with musicians Amy Reid and Pangelica, the local DIY arts collective is now presenting weekly programming that includes live music performance, conversations with artists, and variety show content.

Rachel Ann Morgan Band
Saturdays. Facebook Live. 4 p.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
Spend your weekend with this singer-songwriter and her rock fusion band who will be performing acoustic happy hour sets of original tunes and fan-favorite cover songs.

Creative Alliance presents Club Q Quarantine Dance Party
Saturdays. 9-11 p.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
Using the online conference call platform, Creative Alliance is hosting at-home dance party, spinning the very best of Baltimore Club and house music spun by the likes of DJ James Nasty, Kotic Couture, Trillnatured, Genie, and more. Guests can join in their pajamas or decked to the nines.

An Die Musik presents Quarantine Jazz Live Stream Concerts
Ongoing. Times vary. Video stream. 7 p.m. $5. Tips encouraged.
The Mt. Vernon music venue kicks off a new ongoing series that brings jazz and world music to the online masses, with livestream concerts by the likes of gypsy jazz band Ultrafaux, Americana singer-songwriter Caleb Stine, the saxpohone-led Gary Thomas Quartet, and the trombone-led Christian Hizon Quartet, as well as virtual access to videos of previously performed concerts.

BSO OffStage
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has created a new web platform featuring at-home concert and entertaining home videos by BSO musicians, as well as virtual music lessons from the pros and a list of past episodes of the symphony’s podcast.

Peabody ArtReach
The Peabody Institute has compiled a collection of virtual past performances and at-home concerts, education activities, artist resources, and meditation and mindfulness activities for music fans, musicians, and even health care workers with music-driven stretching exercises.

On-Screen Performing Arts

Creative Alliance presents Drag Storytime
Tuesdays & Thursdays. Facebook Live. 1 p.m. Free. Tips encouraged.
This family-friendly lunchtime reading features beloved books read by some of Baltimore’s most beloved drag queens, including Brooklyn Heights, Iyana Deschanel, and Betty O’Hellno. Families are encouraged to dress up, as well.

Baltimore Improv Group
Tuesdays, Fridays & Sundays. Times vary. Free.
Every week, the local troupe is offering an array of evening livestream comedy performances and competitions by BIG comics, as well as an online improv class on March 30 for $90.

Red Emma’s presents Many Worlds
Second & fourth Saturdays. Zoom. 1 p.m. Free.
Red Emma’s presents a new recurring reading of science fiction short story readings and virtual discussions.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents “Sequestered Shakespeare” and “The Past is Prologue”
Ongoing. YouTube. Free.
The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company has created two new YouTube series, with the first featuring homemade videos by CSC resident actors presenting soliloquies and sonnets and the latter leading a weekly conversation with the global Shakespeare community.

QuaranTV
Ongoing. twitch.tv/quarantv. 24/7. Free.
Local artists Thomas Faison and Gillian Waldo present a new online television channel that encapsulates the eclectic creativity of the Baltimore arts scene, featuring movies, morning cartoons, live music performances, daily news, and original programming with a DIY, arthouse touch.

The SNF Parkway Theatre
Ongoing. Video stream. Times vary. $4.99-14.99.
The Station North movie theater is offering online moving screenings of mainstream and indie flicks. Current offerings include Saint Frances and Fantastic Funghi, as well as species access for members.

Art Space Reimagined

MICA Senior Fiber Exhibition
Ongoing. Instagram. Free.
View artworks by the Maryland Institute College of Art’s senior fiber students through the department’s Instagram page, with new posts dedicated to individual artists and their compelling final pieces each day.

Baltimore Clayworks presents Flora and Fauna
Through 6/20. baltimoreclayworks.org. Free.
In celebration of Clayworks’ 40th anniversary, this spring-inspired exhibit is now on virtual display, featuring sculptural works and vase ware featuring floral interpretations.

C. Grimaldis Gallery
Ongoing. Instagram. Free.
The Mount Vernon gallery is showcasing its latest exhibit, “The Domestic” by Zoe Charlton via photographs on social media. Also be on the lookout for an upcoming virtual gallery tour

#ArtofBaltimore
Ongoing. Downtown Partnership’s social media, as well as city interactive kiosks and the Penn Station’s digital billboard. Free.
The Downtown Partnership, Maryland Art Place, and Bromo Arts & Entertainment District presents a new virtual gallery program. Painter and MICA grad Mike McConnell has been selected as the first artist, with new artists rotating every two weeks.

Mitchell School of Fine Arts Classes
Ongoing. Zoom. Times and prices vary.
Artist-owner Trevor Twist has modified youth and adult art lessons of varying skill levels through a virtual classroom, focusing on artist expressio across the likes of painting, printmaking, and sculpture.

At-Home Museum Exhibits

Shan Wallace: 410
Through 6/28. artbma.org. Free.
This local photographer presents an immersive exhibit that combines her powerful photography featuring portraits, candid shots, and elements of collage, speaking the beauty and resilience of the Baltimore community.

Valerie Maynard: Lost and Found
Through 6/28. artbma.org. Free.
This retrospective celebrates the six-decade career of Baltimore-based printmaker and sculptor Valerie Maynard, featuring her landmark No Apartheid series from the 1980s and 1990s and a rare look at her early sculpture.

Katharina Grosse: Is It You?
Through 6/28. artbma.org. Free.
This internationally acclaimed German artist’s large-scale painting installations that transform the Contemporary Wing into a colorful cocoon and creative experience.

Zackary Drucker: Icons
Through 6/28. artbma.org. Free.
In this new exhibit, L.A.-based artist-activist Zackary Drucker confronts assumptions about transformation, beauty, aging, and mortality, juxtaposing personal narratives, self-portraits, and photographs taken by mentor Rosalyne Blumenstein, who directed the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center’s pioneering Gender Identity Project in the 1990s.

Shinique Smith: Grace Stands Behind
Through 8/9. artbma.org. Free.
This local sculpture presents a new work that stands monument to the complexity of the black experience in the hallowed BMA halls, on view in a virtual gallery.

Jo Smail: Flying With Remnant Wings
Through 8/9. artbma.org. Free.
In this new exhibit by veteran South African-born, Baltimore-based artist Jo Smail, new works convey the strangeness, vulnerability, and complicated beauty of contemporary life, featuring 50 paintings and works on paper, as well as collages produced with fellow South African William Kentridge.

The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum’s collections are available for free online browsing, from the BMA’s paintings to The Walters’ manuscripts, to the Lewis’s jazz recordings. Meanwhile, the American Visionary Arts Museum has posted YouTube videos for past visionary talks, downloadable kids’ activities, and tips for building your own art car. The Enoch Pratt Free Library also offers ebooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines through its website.

Virtual tours are also offered at the likes of the Baltimore Museum of Industry, the Walter’s 1 West Mount Vernon Place, the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, and the National Aquarium, which also featured livestreams from the aquatic exhibits. In addition to tours, the BMA is also providing virtual gallery walks, while the B&O Railroad Museum has launched a brand-new virtual exhibit, The B&O Lives on, on the railroad’s founding fathers.

Living History

Baltimore Architectural Foundation & Baltimore Heritage present Virtual Histories
5/29. Livestream. 1-1:30 p.m. Free. Donations encouraged.
The two local architectural organizations are teaming up to present 30-minute virtual tours and presentations focusing on Baltimore architecture, preservation, and city history, including the likes of textile buildings in Clipper Mill in mid-May, followed by architectural gems and city gardens at the end of the month.

Homewood Museum Wednesday Webinars
6/3, 10. Zoom. 2 p.m. Free. Registration required.
The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Museum presents virtual lectures on the historic venue’s antique prints and trend-setting ceramics.

Devin Allen’s The Beautiful Journey
Ongoing. Facebook. Free.
Five years after the death of Freddie Gray, the gallery of Baltimore City Hall presents its first virtual exhibit with photographs by local photographer Devin Allen, featuring black-and-white photographs of local residents, city life, and the Baltimore Uprising.

Baltimore Heritage Five Minute Histories

Ongoing. Times vary. baltimoreheritage.org. Free.

BH’s Johns Hopkins presents a short video series of brief history lessons on iconic Baltimore landmarks and architecture, from the Clifton Mansion and Patterson Park to the historical clubs of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Peale Center presents “Be Here Stories”
Ongoing. Soundcloud. Free.
In addition to its virtual tour, the downtown museum presentsmore than 1,500 stories by Baltimoreans via webite and Soundcloud. Also check out their online “It’s More Than History” lectures with local historians, tackling topics like women’s suffrage.

Creative Community

Creative Mornings Coffee Breaks

5/29. Zoom & YouTube. 8:30 a.m. Free. Registration required.

The monthly morning speaker series with new Friday breakfast events focused on mindfulness, featuring Baltimore Center Stage head Stephanie Ybarra who will lead onlookers through a class on nature.

Artists Cribs
6/25. Crowdcast. 7 p.m. Free.
The Enoch Pratt Free Library hosts a virtual evening with artists Abdu Ali and Savannah Wood, featuring music and conversation about the creative process.

Impact Hub Skill Shares
Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Instagram Live. 12-1 p.m. Free.
The Station North community hub has shifted its weekly in-person class to an online course, featuring authors, artists, and wellness experts discussing the likes of drawing, journaling, and indoor gardening.

There’s a running joke in my family, albeit straight from the Borscht Belt school of ba-da-bump! humor. And it goes like this: “What’s mom’s favorite thing to make for dinner?” “Reservations!” say my three kids in unison.

Corny, I know, but it makes me smile because it’s true, After all, I am the food and dining editor at Baltimore magazine.

Depending on the month, I eat out between three and five times a week, whether for business or for pleasure—and for a dining obsessive like me, most times those borders blend. It’s the best job in the world, though there have been times when I’ve longed to just stay at home and scramble up some eggs.

Several months ago, a former Baltimore food editor told me that after hanging up her hat at the magazine, she vowed to eat at home for an entire year (which she did).

I could relate. Having come off a particularly gut-busting bender—five dinners out in one week, foie gras, followed by several dishes drowning in cream sauces—I looked at her with envy. “That sounds like heaven,” I said.

Now, that sounds like hell.

Last week, Governor Hogan closed all restaurants and bars, with the exception of carryout to keep the hospitality industry from completely imploding in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. It was a remarkable move that shook many of us to the core. It was the final stroke, a serious statement, that moved me from a sense of growing unease to serious alarm.

Like many of us, even before that, I was concerned, but there were so many mixed messages out there—and this has been unprecedented territory for the world at large. In the first week of March, while washing my hands, I sang happy birthday in my head—ironically, one of those days was my actual birthday—but I was still dining out. I stocked my pantry with dry goods and bought prepared foods I’d normally never eat, but I continued to consider places to review and carried on with my usual restaurant-reporting routine.

The night after President Trump banned flights coming from Europe to America, I watched executive chef Chris Scanga at work in the kitchen at Petit Louis Bistro. During menu meeting, the staff had been briefed about taking precautions (disposable menus, extra wearing of gloves, and sanitizing of surfaces), word came down that Disney World was closing, the NBA had suspended its season, and Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, had just come out of the Corona closet.

It seemed surreal, but back in the kitchen, as onion soup was topped with cheese and placed in the oven for maximum melting, plates of grilled salmon with pomme purée moved down the line, and the comforting din of the dining room found its way into the kitchen, everything felt normal.

That night now feels like another lifetime.

As recently as Saturday, March 14, I debated about honoring my reservation at Cookhouse, a new spot in Bolton Hill. With a bottle of Purell in tow, my husband and I decided to go and were careful to ask for a table set apart from the others to practice “social distancing.” It felt great just walking into the space on the site of the former B Bistro, because as long as I could do my job, it felt like business as usual.

The space was breathlessly beautiful with its teal banquettes and mirrored backlit bar. The food needed some work, but the place was in its fourth week of business, and I know that this can be a typical trajectory.

As I always do, I made notes throughout the meal. The Dover sole was pricey and too upscale for a neighborhood spot. The burger, on the other hand, was just right. The boiled peanuts were a mushy mess, but the roasted carrots with horseradish earned plus points. Several people congregated at the bar. The ambiance was warm and convivial. We looked out the window at burgeoning blossoms on the trees, while wondering if we should be sitting there at all. It was the calm before the storm.

The owner/chef made the rounds and asked how we liked our meal. We told him we were looking forward to coming back. “That’s if we’re still here,” he said, his voice catching.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, it would be my last meal in a restaurant for the foreseeable future.

Less than 48 hours later, thousands of service-industry workers were laid off. And in the days that followed, restaurant owners were emptying out their walk-ins and freezers to feed their employee’s families.

“It just hurts me to know that these people who have worked so hard for me to live my dreams are suddenly insecure about where their next meal is coming from through no fault of their own,” Duck Duck Goose’s Ashish Alfred said to me of his staff, echoing what others have expressed, too.

There’s an implicit irony in the hospitality business: Those who choose it as a career often have the need to nurture, even though the wages are low, the hours are long, and the job can be thankless. But many people who pick it, pick it for this sole reason—feeding us feeds them.

Right now, I could kill for a crock of that onion soup from Petit Louis. I’m on the verge of making a Draconian deal with whatever higher power exists (take my pinkie toe!) to enjoy a plate of lentils and labneh at Le Comptoir du Vin. I’d do anything for the Tilghman Island Crab Pot at Woodberry Kitchen.

But in a world where the first quarter of 2020 has basically been cancelled, the body count continues to mount, and we fight a situation that’s been compared to World War II and 9/11, why should restaurants, of all things, matter?

But in fact, they matter now more than ever.

Restaurants, an $836 billion-dollar industry in the United States in 2019, are as necessary as food itself. We dine out to be nurtured, to get respite, to refuel, to reset, and share a common cause—the love of eating and drinking together. In France, where the first restaurants originated, the word “restaurant” comes from the word “restore.”

In my work, I spend a great deal of time considering what makes a restaurant great. Of course, there are the elements of food, ambiance, and service to consider, but what makes a restaurant memorable transcends the table. I can’t always remember what I ate—and taste is subjective, anyway—but I always remember how I felt sitting in a particular space.

Dining out not only provides a restorative escape, but it gives us a sense of kinship and community. When all goes well, it feels sacred, celebratory, and special. It fills us physically, yes, but it feeds us spiritually, too. What’s on the plate is paramount, but it’s only part of the bigger picture. At a time when there’s a need for so much healing, what better place to do that than in a restaurant?

Right now, we have no idea how long it will be before we resume our regularly scheduled lives. At this point, it feels like we’re facing many months of “social distancing” and self-isolation. When this is over, many restaurants will be added to the list of casualties. Some fledgling spots will never get the chance they needed to take root. And even old stalwarts are at risk—just as we all are.

But some restaurants will be back, while new ones will open and thrive. And our desire to commune over a meal will be stronger than ever. When that time comes, I’ll be there making my favorite thing for dinner.

As someone who’s been anchoring television in one city for more than three decades, I’d begun to feel like I’d lived through all the challenges the news business in Baltimore could provide: the death of two beloved anchormen, the rather public gestation and birth of my twin daughters, the long fight to win a football team, the Joseph Palzynski (remember him?) hostage stand-off, the D.C. snipers, 9/11, and, most recently, Freddie Gray.

But nobody could’ve anticipated the Coronavirus pandemic. Or, at least, nobody I knew.

The thing I love about newsrooms is when something big happens, we almost instantaneously become like a small army. Everyone gets a supernatural burst of adrenaline. That’s what happened two weeks ago when General Manager Audra Swain described to the staff what CBS believed was coming and how we would adapt.

Photographers and reporters would no longer come into the building, but report remotely. Everyone who could work at home would. The on-air staff behind and in front of the camera would be pared down, dramatically. And we would rotate so if someone did become ill and quarantines were needed, we’d have a back-up. Clear? You bet. Ready, boss.

On Monday, March 16th, I head to work. Less traffic? Expected. The station gate closed in the afternoon? Unexpected. The quiet inside the newsroom: startling. Newsrooms aren’t quiet places, they’re noisy, chattering, screeching playgrounds for words and ideas. On Monday, ours was eerily quiet.

There were less than a dozen people in sight and no light banter to be heard. I go to the green room to slather my face and “wrastle” my hair and meteorologist Meg McNamara and I realize it’s too small to accommodate both of us while observing “social distancing.” Someone has to find another slathering station.

The producers format the newscasts so neither I nor co-anchor Rick Ritter will ever come closer than six feet. We learn what we begin to call the “dance.” You go to camera one, I go to camera three, camera two will never face us both . . . too close.

When walking past the floor manager, make a wide circle. When walking between the prompter and the weather desk…go sideways or you’ll violate social distancing. Every time you think of it, use wipes on your wireless mic, the keyboard and mouse, and anchor desk. When you get the chance, run to the nearest sink and wash your hands.

And, get used to total immersion in coronavirus information: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m. you will be thinking, speaking, reading, communicating, and absorbing pandemic. And you’ll do it on your feet, and it will eventually take an emotional toll and have you looking for any excuse for levity. Because, that’s a lot of hours of pandemic.

By Tuesday, I was making up pandemic songs in the commercial breaks and the few of us working in the studio began taking playful, sarcastic verbal jabs at each other. Then we’d laugh, maybe a little too hard. We’d tell stories. We’d take every opportunity to move around the studio until, at times, Rick and I even broke out into dancing. Six feet apart, of course. But, once the camera light came on, we’d immediately shift our focus back to a national emergency that’s affecting you, me, everyone we love and all the families on whom we’re reporting.

Each evening around 10 p.m., Rick and I would Facetime live the WJZ audience, which gave us the opportunity to say all the things we weren’t formatted to say on air: We will get through this, it will end, there are things you can do to feel better such as keeping a routine, setting small goals, and heading outside.

Which brings me to, well, me. Fresh air has saved my sanity. Because by Friday I was going just a teeny, tiny bit insane. I was obsessively swallowing to see if my throat was sore, feeling my forehead, checking for every sign I was infected. Then, I’d walk outside.

The sky is still there, the air still fills my lungs, I notice signs of spring, the world has not come to an end. In fact, the people walking and jogging past me were actually smiling, and appeared even friendlier than usual.

“Go to work Denise, do your job,” I exhorted myself. And I did. And I was grateful. I was grateful to feel like I could serve in some small way, and I was grateful for the company of those wonderful people I was dancing around.

When Friday night midnight finally came and it was time for another anchor rotation, I had only one moment of deep angst. And it had nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. It was because I really, really wanted to hug everyone who’d lived through that week with me. I wanted to hold them and tell them how much I appreciated their hard work, their good spirit and fortitude. Of course, I couldn’t do it.

But, I will get another chance. Maybe not next week or the next several weeks but when all this ends, and it will end. Because, I have a new appreciation for my co-workers, my job, my station and my community. And when there is no more social distancing, I plan to do a lot of hugging. …and I mean a lot of body to body, close contact, lingering, squeezing hugging. Certainly to those I work with. Maybe with everyone I meet.

Consider yourself warned!

Throughout the past few weeks, everyone has heard the same advice on how to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus: wash your hands, practice social distancing, and sanitize all shared surfaces.

But as COVID-19 continues to impact practically every aspect of daily life—from bar and restaurant closures to scrambles at area hospitals—many Baltimoreans are looking for more ways to help their neighbors in need.

“Today, with statewide closures and increasing anxieties around COVID-19, the food-insecure Marylanders we serve need us now more than ever,” reads a statement from the Maryland Food Bank, which is offering grab-and-go meals for students at select sites, working with seniors to double distribution efforts, and creating “Back Up Boxes” of nutritious non-perishables for families, all while continuing its normal food programs.

And there are plenty of other local organizations doing their part to support the community while maintaining social distance. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are a few ways to give back to the Baltimore community during this time of need.

Things To Do

Start a Virtual Food Drive
While self-isolating, as recommended by the Center for Disease Control, the best and easiest way to donate nonperishable food items to Marylanders in need is through a virtual food drive. Here’s how it works: Start by creating a no-boxes-needed drive through Maryland Food Bank’s website, fill your “cart” with desired donations (examples include everything from canned vegetables and fruits to milk and brown rice), and then share your page with your friends, family, and social media circle. The Maryland Food Bank will fill your “shopping list” and provide all donations to local families that are food-insecure.

Donate Blood
As Gov. Larry Hogan emphasized during his press conference on Thursday, area hospitals are facing an emergency blood shortage and are in need of donations from healthy individuals. Visit the Red Cross website to check your eligibility, find a nearby blood drive location, and make an appointment to give back to patients in need.

Join a Neighborhood Quarantine Response Team
Amid the pandemic panic, Baltimoreans from all corners of the city have come together to support their neighbors with compromised immune systems by forming neighborhood quarantine response teams. Volunteers can sign up to buy groceries, pick up prescriptions, and walk dogs for in-need community members in 15 (and counting) Baltimore neighborhoods and districts. If you don’t see your area on the list, create your own response team using the COVID-19 Volunteer Support Pack.

Order Takeout or Delivery from Local Businesses
Although Gov. Larry Hogan mandated that all bars and restaurants close their doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as of now, takeout and delivery services are still fair game. Since then, dozens of Baltimore restaurants have pivoted to offering customers take-home options such as curbside pickup and home delivery. To help keep your favorite local eateries afloat during these uncertain times, order a meal (or two) using our Charm City carryout guide. Don’t forget to wash it down with libations from a Baltimore distillery or brewery, which are now allowed to offer carryout booze.

Make Donation Kits
In a time when supermarket aisles are empty and household items are in short supply, local donation centers are in need of provisions now more than ever. Check out the wishlists of area charities, such as the Jewish Volunteer Connection and Health Care for the Homeless, to prepare donation kits filled with everything from bagged lunches to blankets to distribute to at-risk communities.

Contribute to Little Free Pantries
We all know and love the little free libraries that are scattered throughout the city, but in recent days, locals have transformed the small wooden boxes into temporary food banks. Drop off any extra nonperishable food items at spotted locations in Hampden and Canton, or transition a close-by mini community library into a makeshift food drive to help passerbys in need.

Places to Donate

United Way of Central Maryland
This nonprofit organization has continued its dedication to helping families and individuals living in poverty by founding the COVID-19 Community Fund, which supports its helpline call specialists who operate on the frontlines of providing resources to people in need.

Moveable Feast
While Moveable Feast, the local nonprofit that delivers nutrient-rich meals to people living with chronic illnesses, suspended its volunteer program to avoid in-person contact, the 30-year-old organization will continue providing meals to its at-risk clients.

Baltimore Virtual Tip Jar
There’s no way around it: The city’s service industry and its fleet of servers, bartenders, baristas, and other staff members are taking a tremendous hit during the coronavirus crisis. To put tips directly in their pockets, scroll through the Baltimore Virtual Tip Jar, which now lists more than 1,200 hospitality professionals, and make a PayPal or Venmo donation.

Paul’s Place
For 38 years, Paul’s Place in Southwest Baltimore has been improving the community’s quality of life by supplying visitors with hot meals, clothing, support services, and health and wellness programs. During these uncertain times, Paul’s Place representatives continue to provide emergency food boxes, as well as shower and laundry services, to neighbors in need.

COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Artists and Freelancers
As more events, performances, and productions cancel their events in compliance with the CDC’s recent guidelines, Baltimore-based performers are struggling with the loss of work. To help support their efforts, Alanah Nichole has started an emergency fund that will distribute donations to individuals and families impacted by COVID-19-related cancellations.

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If you’re an organization helping the community during the ourbreak, let us know by completing the following form:

[1/1/21: Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published when the first restaurant shutdown went into effect in March of 2020. Though many of the establishments listed below are still offering to-go service, some of their specials may be outdated. For an updated list of restaurants offering takeout, please visit our Restaurant Directory.]

If there is any good that can come of the mandatory bar and restaurant closures across the state—aside from, of course, slowing the spread of COVID-19—it’s seeing how the resilient hospitality industry has come together to support one another during these surreal times.

Longtime restaurant publicist and industry advocate Dave Seel has started a Facebook group to share resources and propose relief efforts for culinary professionals. Industry veteran Abby Hopper has created a Virtual Tip Jar for locals to send a few dollars to their favorite servers, bartenders, and baristas while dining rooms remain closed.

But above all, supporters of the city’s dining scene have come out in droves to promote carryout and delivery service, which makes it easy to support your favorite small businesses when they need it the most. Can’t decide what you’re feeling for your next meal? Here’s an easy-access guide with some of the many spots offering carryout and delivery, and more information on how to order:

Breweries, Wineries, and Liquor Stores

At one of his many public announcements, Governor Larry Hogan declared that he has signed an executive order allowing for alcohol delivery in an effort to help support the industry while encouraging citizens to stay home. Though this is permitted at all establishments, here are a few favorites to consider:

Bin 604: The experts at this Harbor East headquarters are offering curbside pick-up and free delivery services from 11 a.m.-7 p.m.. Browse the store’s inventory and order online, here.

Canton Crossing Wine + Spirits: Not only is this neighborhood shop offering its regular delivery service, it’s also offering work to industry professionals in need. More information here.

Diamondback Beer: Diamondback is offering hot pizza and cold packaged products to-go in order to limit contact and put safety first. Online orders can be placed through Toast Tab or DoorDash, where curbside pickup can be requested.

Full Tilt Brewing: This Towson brewery on York Road will be offering curbside pickup for its cans and crowlers, and a 25-percent discount on them all from 3-7 p.m. this week.

Grand Cru Bottle Shop: Visit this Belvedere Square staple’s online bottle shop to find tons of wine, beer, and spirits available for delivery and curbside pickup. Be sure to check out the “Staff Picks” section for practical suggestions (think boxed wine and local craft beer) perfect for hunkering down at home.

Guinness Open Gate Brewery: Customers can now order a range of Baltimore-brewed experimental beers, as well as Dublin classics, for curbside pickup at the Halethorpe facility. Guinness Blonde and Over the Moon milk stout are among the options available for to-go service. All proceeds will benefit the Maryland Food Bank’s COVID-19 response efforts.

Mr. Nice Guy Cocktails: Mr. Nice Guy Cocktails is a group of bartenders offering takeout and delivery eats and drinks in Canton and the surrounding Baltimore area. Menu items include snacks, craft cocktails, and nonalcoholic drinks with frequent collaboration with local bars and restaurants. Run by bartenders impacted by the virus, 10 percent of all profits will be donated to the Baltimore Bartenders’ Guild Relief Fund. The kitchen is open Monday through Saturday and the bar runs daily from 12-8 p.m.

Monument City Brewing: Show your support for this Highlandtown brewery by grabbing cold cans from its curbside station from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and 12-7 p.m. on weekends. Online ordering is now also available.

Nepenthe Brewing Co.: Though its doors are closed, this Falls Road hangout is offering pickup orders for crowlers, food, and homebrew supplies. The team has even started bottling their house cocktails. More information here.

Union Craft Brewing: Union is offering online beer orders for pickup or carryout. Customers can purchase a six-pack, case, or specialty growler.

Union’s taproom neighbor Well Crafted Kitchen is orchestrating pickup for its pizzas, shareables, and snacks, as well as other goodies from its farm partners and fellow Union Collective tenants. Visit the kitchen’s website to bundle The Charmery ice cream, Baltimore Spirits Company liquors, Vent Coffee beans, and more with your pizza order.

Waverly Brewing Company: Waverly is operating on modified to-go hours so that customers can still enjoy the beer in crowlers and growlers. The team is currently featuring six different brews, with two more coming later this week. Hours are 4-7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 12-4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Wild Kombucha: This homegrown fermentation facility is offering free home delivery (within Baltimore city and county limits) on 12-packs of its signature kombucha and Icaro Yerba Mate. All orders can be placed online or by phone and will be delivered to your doorstep within three days.

Looking to support local vineyards? Check out a handy guide to wineries open for curbside pickup from Vino 301 and the Maryland Wineries Association, here.

Neighborhood Spots

AJ’s on Hanover: AJ’s is offering all food and drink for curbside pickup from 4-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday for brunch. Orders can be called in at 410-800-2657, and will be brought straight to the curb with your receipt.

Alexander’s Tavern: This Fells Point favorite, along with its sister spots Papi’s Tacos, Wicked Sisters, and Huck’s American Craft, is offering meals to-go and through delivery providers.

Annabel Lee Tavern: The hand-written menus are still available for walk-up and carryout at this Canton corner bar. Daily specials, such as the $5-off crab cake deal on Thursday, continue to be offered.

Abbey Burger Bistro: Locations in Federal Hill and Mt. Washington are open for curbside carryout from 5-9 p.m, as well as delivery via Grubhub, Doordash, and Uber Eats. Food, beer, and wine are all available to order.

Arthouse Pizza Bar: Delivery, carryout, and gift certificates on all food and alcohol are available from 5-9 p.m. and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Avenue Kitchen & Bar: Hampden’s Avenue Kitchen & Bar is now offering carryout and delivery daily from 3-8 p.m. Carryout orders can be placed by calling 443-961-8515, and delivery orders can be placed through DoorDash and GrubHub. Gift cards can be bought on Toast Tab, where 50 percent of all proceeds will be contributed to helping employees currently out of work.

Barracuda’s: Did someone say to-go Crushes? In addition the the famous Maryland cocktail, the Locust Point Tavern is featuring a special “Quarantine” menu that highlights its signature Maryland crab soup, crab cakes, and pizzas, all available in various sizes if you’re feeding a group.

The Backyard Uptown: This brand new concept, now open in the former home of The Greene Turtle in Towson, is open for contact-free carryout and delivery. Every day from 12-8 p.m., The Backyard Uptown offers its full menu of burgers, sammies, pub snacks, and larger entrees like barbecue ribs and lemon pepper chicken. Be on the lookout for special drink deals and family packages offered weekly.

Blue Agave: Food, margarita mix, and nonalcoholic beverages are available for carryout at Blue Agave in Federal Hill. Updated business hours are 5-10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Blue Agave is also available for delivery on GrubHub and DoorDash.

Blue Hill Tavern: Enjoy favorites from this Canton staple in the comfort of your own home by ordering curbside pickup. Check out the restaurant’s Instagram for a new menu and carry-out specials (like boozy snowballs) weekly. In addition, 100 percent of all food and gift card sales will be divided amongst the tavern’s hard-working staff. The restaurant is also offering an option to donate a prepared lunch to emergency room staff and front line workers for $10.

The Bluebird Cocktail Room and Pub: The Hampden bar is offering a special curbside carryout menu including bottled versions of its famous Old Fashioneds and Manhattans. Its downstairs pub will be boxing up eats including cheeseburgers, fish and chips, and lamb meatballs.

Blue Pit BBQ & Whiskey Bar: Curbside pickup and delivery via Chownow are offered from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 4-9 p.m. on Sundays. Options include the full barbecue menu, as well as bottled mules and single-barrel bourbons, six-packs of beer, gift cards, and Blue Pit merch.

The Brass Tap: The Brass Tap in Midtown is offering carryout of select food, beer, and wine. Enjoy 15 percent-off carryout food, 50 percent-off select bottles and cans of beer, 25 percent-off bottles of wine, and 10 percent-off of everything between 2 and 4 p.m. for happy hour. Customers can call 888-901-BEER or place an order through the website.

Charmed Kitchen: In Butcher’s Hill, this neighborhood go-to is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aside from its all-day menu, the restaurant offers Ceremony Coffee, beer, wine, and cocktails to-go. If you’re in need of other essentials, Charmed Kitchen’s market offers items such as sugar, flour, and marinara sauce. Carryout orders can be placed online or by phone.

Clark Burger: Clark Burger’s York Road and downtown locations are both still open and running. Near Belvedere Square, customers can place their burger and poutine orders online for carryout. Downtown diners closer to the location just outside of Harbor East can also order online, as well as place an order for delivery through Grubhub.

Dutch Courage: The bar may be closed, but Dutch Courage’s new Bottle Shoppe is open for business. From 12 to 6 p.m, pick up beer, wine, and spirits at the Old Goucher spot, which is offering batched cocktails to-go in sealed containers. The “Stay @ Home Sour,” made with gin, Strega, strawberry, and lemon, serves four.

El Bufalo Tequila Bar: The special menu at this Canton hotspot is available for carryout, delivery, and curbside pickup. Order tacos, sandwiches, burritos, and, of course, booze to-go by calling 410-814-0594. Plus, the restaurant has partnered with local artist Lynn Cipollone to provide personalized tequila kits, which make excellent gifts. Customers are encouraged to check El Bufalo’s social media channels for daily specials.

Grano Pasta Bar: Aside from offering daily specials and beloved pasta dishes for pickup or delivery within a 10-mile radius, this Hampden hotspot is also selling packaged foods to be frozen or eaten as a family meal. Other offerings include Italian rice, antipasto, tomato sauces, and Neapolitan ricotta cheese cake.

Hair of the Dog: This South Hanover Street pub is offering GrubHub deliveries to your home. Plus, you can order online and pick up your food at the South Baltimore spot from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Holy Frijoles: This Hampden dining favorite is open for carryout, although it plans to offer online ordering and delivery in the coming weeks. Open Monday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday through Sunday, from 12 to 9 p.m, pick up cocktails to-go and other items from a new carryout menu.

Homeslyce: In addition to curb-side pickup and delivery to extended locations, Homeslyce is currently offering cook-at-home-kits. Each comes with the pizza bar’s award-winning dough and all the ingredients to make your own pie.

Johnny’s: In Roland Park, this neighborhood staple is offering its full cocktail menu. Pair your drink of choice with a la carte soups, salads, snacks, famous seafood dishes, and meal kits for two to prepare at home. Foreman Wolf is also hosting a pop-up market at Johnny’s Sunday mornings from 8 to 11 a.m. featuring fresh pasta and sauces from Cinghiale, empanadas from Bar Vasquez, produce from Mexico, breakfast and coffee from Johnny’s, and wines picked by Tony Foreman and sommelier Lindsay Willey. The restaurant group is also hosting farmers’ produce from AgriBerry Farm, Two Boots Farm, and Richfield Farms, as well as crafts and art from Foreman Wolf employees.

Koco’s Pub: Got a hankering for a classic crab cake? This Harford Road staple is offering curbside takeout, including its full menu and cocktails to-go, Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. The team is also shipping its crab cakes to out-of-towners who need their fix.

Lee’s Pint & Shell: Continuing its daily food and drink deals, Lee’s is providing carryout, curbside, and delivery in Canton and Brewer’s Hill. Among the specials are $10 growler fills and a 16-inch pizza, 25 wings, and a case of beer for $50.

Mahaffey’s Pub: Local beer bar Mahaffey’s Pub in Canton is open for carryout food, beer, wine, and cocktails. Take advantage of deals like 50 cent wings with the purchase of a bottle of beer, canned cocktails, and bottles of liquor. Orders can be called or texted in at 443-695-3485, and hours can be seen here.

Mick O’Sheas Irish Pub: Choose your favorite Irish cuisine and pub grub from the full menu, as Mick O’Sheas offers curbside pickup daily starting at 5 p.m. Looking for a drink? The spot also offers bottled cocktails including margaritas, as well as mix-and-match 6 or 12-packs of craft beer, all to go.

No Land Beyond: This recently relocated gaming bar in Old Goucher is offering carryout and delivery on select beer, cocktails, and board games. No Land Beyond is open everyday from 12-8 p.m., and orders can be placed through its website. All delivery orders are $20 minimum and will be dropped off within five miles of the bar.

Papi’s Tacos: Both Papi’s Tacos locations in Fells Point and Hampden are now available for delivery. Papi’s Fells Point location will deliver through GrubHub, and Hampden through DoorDash.

Pen & Quill: Though we’re unable to hang out in the bar or dining room of this Station North gem, the restaurant is offering carryout food and cocktails to hold us over until it’s safe to return. The limited menu features to-go Grapefruit Crushes and basil lemonades, along with homemade focaccia, sandwiches, burgers, and lasagna for two.

Refocused Vegan: Open for carryout and delivery, this vegan concept offers its plant-based dishes and desserts, as well as specialty 16-oz. bottled cocktails. Try the “Peach Potent Potion” sangria, “Ravens Purple Reign” vodka cocktail, or Hennessy “HEN-demic Punch.”

Taco Fiesta: Taco Fiesta in Harbor East is serving eats and drinks for carryout and delivery. Enjoy tacos, dips, tequila, and “Fiesta-ritas” from its standard menu. Orders can be called in or placed through GrubHub or Uber Eats.

Topside: Hotel Revival’s rooftop bar and restaurant is offering delivery through Uber Eats. But to further do its part in these challenging times, the hotel is offering its unused first-floor restaurant space to local food startups without a brick-and-mortar location free of charge. Known as the “Pop-Up and Pick-Up” initiative, the project allows small businesses the space to take orders, prepare food, and offer carryout.

Additionally, Hotel Revival is partnering with Kiss Tomorrow Hello and The Night Brunch to collect resources such as money, supplies, and fresh produce from Healthy Harvest for service industry workers who have been recently laid off.

Wet City: House beers, guest beers, canned wines, bottled cocktails, hot Cheeto-fried deviled eggs, confit chicken wings—this Mt. Vernon hangout is offering it all for pickup and delivery. Be sure to grab some merch (including the popular Spagett t-shirt) to further show your support.

Wicked Sisters: Wicked Sisters is offering it’s full menu for delivery or curbside pickup via Grubhub. Customers can also call in their orders.

Produce and Groceries

Copper Kitchen: Caroll Park’s Copper Kitchen is open for curbside pickup and doorstep delivery for those who live within a 10-mile radius. Their menu features soups, salads, sides, entrees, and desserts. Customers can also purchase fresh organic produce and mix- -and-match beer kits to pair. Orders can be placed by calling 410-244-7152 or by sending an email. All orders must be placed by 3 p.m. and at a 48-hour notice.

Culinary Architecture: In the wake of COVID-19, Culinary Architecture has refocused its services and is now a reliable neighborhood source for food and grocery needs in Southwest Baltimore. All orders can be placed via email for guaranteed contactless transactions.

Chuck’s Trading Post: Enjoy carryout, curbside, or delivery from this Hampden bodega and saloon. Chuck’s continues to offer its full menu, as well as grocery items including eggs, milk, produce, beef, butcher boxes, and meal kits. Carryout beer, wine, and liquor are also a plus.

La Cuchara: La Cuchara is now operating as a curbside grocery store, providing neighbors with fresh fruits, vegetables, and proteins from suppliers, as well breads baked fresh in-house. Beyond that, the team is peddling household items such as bleach, gloves, and garden seeds. There are also some prepared meals easy to heat up at home. Orders are accepted Tuesday through Saturday to be picked up the following day. A 10-percent gratuity is added to orders to support hourly staff who are unable to work.

Table Field Catering: With special events canceled for the foreseeable future, Table Field Catering has pivoted to delivering locally sourced organic vegetables. For just $35, 10 pounds of freshly picked produce will be delivered right to your door weekly, biweekly, or monthly. They are also a community partner of The Maryland Foodbank and every order supports a food-insecure Marylander.

Woodberry Kitchen: Woodberry Kitchen’s expansive “Here for Us Market” menu includes its own recipes (think wood-fired meatballs and maple-glazed sweet potatoes), as well as items from other local purveyors. Among the goods to-go are ice cream pints from The Charmery, salsas from Papi’s Tacos, loaves from Motzi Bread, and produce from Karma and Liberty Delight Farms.

Additionally, restaurant partner Corey Polyoka has created a signature line of curbside cocktails that will act as a fundraiser to maintain health benefits for Woodberry Kitchen and Artifact Coffee employees. The first release is a barrel-aged Black Manhattan featuring Catoctin Creek rye and local kumquats.

Food Hall Hubs

Baltimore Public Markets has made the decision to close Lexington, Avenue, Broadway, Hollins, and Northeast markets in an effort to prohibit patrons from congregating to make purchases and to keep its merchants safe and healthy. However, other market and food hall tenants inside Cross Street Market, Belvedere Square Market, and R. House (beginning Friday) are offering curbside, takeout window, and delivery service.

Amano Taco: R. House has made it easy to enjoy all of its food hall staples, including Amano Taco. Amano is available for delivery through DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates, and Uber Eats, as well as for takeout and it’s selling gift cards through Toast Tab. New hours of operation are Monday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

BeBim: BeBim Korean at R. House is available for carryout daily from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Gift cards can be purchased here to support the business now while treating yourself to a DIY rice bowl in the future.

Between 2 Buns: This Mount Vernon Marketplace mainstay will be offering its entire menu of burgers, poutine, and milkshakes for curbside pickup every day from 12-7 p.m. Call ahead with your order and the make of your vehicle and the team will meet you outside the marketplace with your food.

BRD: BRD’s flagship location at R. House in Remington is offering curbside pickup by ordering online or calling in. BRD is also delivering through DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates, and Uber Eats. Updated hours of operation are Monday through Friday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday 11a.m. to 10 p.m. Gift cards can be purchased here.

Gangster Vegan Organics: This vegan hub inside Cross Street Market will be taking orders from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Call 410-617-8903 to place orders.

Gundalow Gourmet: This local caterer, which will soon open a homebase inside the forthcoming Whitehall Market in Hampden, is offering a menu of prepared items to stock your fridge and freezer. Follow updates on Gundalow’s Instagram, which boasts offerings such as family-style lasagnas, shepherd’s pie, and summer squash quiche.

Fishnet: You can still head to Mount Vernon Marketplace for your seafood fix. Fishnet is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 7 p.m. for pickup and delivery via UberEats.

Neopol Savory Smokery: Get all of your favorite smoked snacks and bulk-order deli items delivered via Uber Eats, Doordash, and Grubhub, or the Neopol team will bring it all to you directly during two daily delivery windows. In addition, online ordering and pickup from Belvedere Square is available.

Pizza di Joey: Access to Pizza di Joey in Cross Street Market will be available through its carry-out window from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Place orders online, over the phone, or at the window.

The Pizza Trust: The Pizza Trust is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. Order for delivery via GrubHub or UberEats or head to the restaurant’s pickup window at PlantBar in Belvedere Square.

Vikki’s Fells Point Deli: After closing briefly this month, Vikki’s has re-opened to offer carryout and curbside delivery, as well as delivery via GrubHub, DoorDash and Postmates. The Broadway Market deli is not accepting cash payments. Pull up to receive your prepaid, online order and check Vikki’s Facebook page for daily soups and specials.

Fine Dining

Aldo’s Italian Ristorante: Aldo’s famous Italian cuisine is now available for delivery and takeout from 5-8 p.m. daily. Orders can be placed by calling 410-727-0700, and customers receive 25 percent-off any gift card after their first online order.

Alma Cocina Latina: Alma has started an arepa ordering service for pickup. All arepas are $15 and can be ordered by calling 667-212-4273 after 3 p.m. daily. Pick up will be available from 5-8 p.m. with Sundays excluded.

Amicci’s: This Little Italy staple is accepting carryout orders, which can be called in at 410-528-1096. Amicci’s is also available for delivery through DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats, and Postmates.

Ananda: Beginning Friday, March 20, this Howard County gem will be offering carryout service from 12-8 p.m. daily. Favorites including the crispy Gobinda cauliflower, Kerala crab cakes, and lamb vindaloo are all featured on the takeaway menu.

Bar Vasquez: Chef Mario Cano Catalán is offering tacos, tapas, meats, fish, and suggested wine pairings at Brazilian steakhouse. In addition, you can pre-order a special meal kit with proteins to throw on the grill at home.

Cafe Gia: Little Italy’s Cafe Gia is offering takeout and delivery of its classic pizzas, pastas, family-sized entrees, and bottles of wine. Orders can be placed by calling 410-685-6727.

Citron: This Pikesville restaurant at Quarry Lake is offering curbside pickup for their New American eats. Call the restaurant to order all of your menu favorites along with selections from their award-winning wine list. Use promo code “Citron To Go” for 20 percent-off all carry-out orders.

Cosima: Treat yourself to a Sicilian feast in the comfort of your own home with offerings including oven-fired pizzas, pastas, fish dishes, sides, and decadent desserts. You can’t go wrong with grilled salmon over saffron risotto, black roasted garlic chicken, or classic spaghetti and meatballs with house garlic bread.

Clavel: Move over, McDonald’s. Clavel has created its own drive-thru outside of the restaurant for fans to pick up tacos and bottled cocktails everyday from noon to 7 p.m. Text your order in at 443-900-8983, wait for confirmation, and send payment via Venmo, Paypal, or CashApp.

Charleston: Chef Cindy Wolf is back in her kitchen at this Harbor East hotspot, whipping up a limited menu of à la carte dishes. Pull out the candlesticks, set the dining room table, and enjoy dishes such as rich lobster soup, sweetbread empanadas, pan-roasted sea scallops, grilled black sea bass, and a half rack of roasted Colorado lamb. There are also cheeses and sweets, as well as discounted to-go bottles from the restaurant’s cellar. Please note take-away must be ordered for next day pick-up.

Cinghiale: Take a drive to Harbor East to grab curbside pickup from this Italian classic. The dinner menu includes the restaurant’s famous pastas, including tagliatelle with forest mushrooms, ricotta-filled mezzaluna, and spaghetti with Gulf shrimp, garlic, and capers. Be sure to also check out the Roman-style pizzas, desserts, and suggested bottled wine pairings.

Chez Hugo Bistro: Between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Chez Hugo will be offering curbside pickup. Place your order off of the special to-go menu, which features French Onion soup, a croque monsieur, and whole roasted chicken, by calling the restaurant and pre-ordering Wednesday-Saturday from 1-8 p.m.

Coal Fire Pizza: Coal Fire Pizza in Baltimore, Ellicott City, Hunt Valley, and Gambrills is offering its full menu for carryout and delivery. Customers can enjoy fresh pizzas, pastas, wings, and more. Coal Fire is offering pizza kits for families to make at home, and BWL. To give back to the community, Coal Fire is offering complimentary food to restaurant workers in need and running a program to help feed healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines.

Cookhouse: If you haven’t yet tried this Bolton Hill newbie, order online and pick up your food from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

Dylan’s Oyster Cellar: Dylan’s is offering a smaller takeout menu with classics for customers to enjoy. Call 443-759-6595 or email to place an order for pick-up between 3 and 9 p.m. Both in-store and curbside pick-up are available.

The Food Market: Order the signature Amish soft pretzels, “Big ‘Ole” mozzarella sticks, and Baltimore club sandwich to pick up curbside from 4-9 p.m.

Germano’s Piattini: Curbside pickup and delivery orders can be placed daily from 2-9 p.m via phone or by emailing piattini.germanos@gmail.com. Since Germano’s has also had to stop operations of its upstairs cabaret, each order will include a CD of music performed by artists who have frequented the stage.

The Helmand: This traditional Afghani restaurant is open for lunch and dinner from 12-8 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Diners can place carryout orders of the famous “Kaddo Borwani” (baked pumpkin with yogurt sauce), kabobs, and vegetarian entrees, or order delivery via Grubhub and Doordash.

Hersh’s: Beginning at 4 p.m., swing by this South Baltimore staple for antipasti, wood-fired pizzas, and booze to-go. There’s also a section of prepared foods, which includes options like housemade mozzarella and take-and-bake lasagna with Hersh’s homemade pasta.

Ida B’s Table: Chef David Thomas’ soul food spot is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for delivery and curbside pickup. Healthcare workers who visit the Holliday Street restaurant will receive 15 percent-off curbside orders with hospital ID. Call 410-844-0444 to place pick-up orders.

Koco’s Pub: Koco’s Pub is open for curbside takeout Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Famous Koco Crab Cakes along with the full menu are available, and speciality cocktails. Crab cakes are also being shipped to customers out of town, and orders can be called in at 410-624-5044.

Le Comptoir du Vin: For those who are going through French lentil withdrawal, Le Comptoir in Station North has began offering contactless carryout. In addition to the lentils, the owners are offering their beloved house sourdough, chicken liver pâté, wine by the bottle, and cocktail kits.

Little Italy Restaurants: Aldo’s owner Sergio Vitale and Cafe Gia owner Gia Fracassetti have created a website for patrons to order takeout and delivery from their favorite Little Italy restaurants.

The Milton Inn: The Northern Baltimore County mainstay has officially reopened for curbside and delivery, offering special “Butcher Boxes,” platters, pizza kits, and booze to-go. The classic menu of fine-dining favorites is also available, with options including braised beef short ribs, 6-oz. crab imperial, clams casino, and fried jumbo shrimp.

Orto: Takeout dishes including rotating appetizers, pastas, and main dishes are available for pickup from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Petit Louis Bistro: Create your own French feast to remember with take-away dishes from this Roland Park mainstay. Favorites on the limited menu include steak frites, trout amandine, traditional Quiche Lorraine, and a croque monsieur on brioche. Now offering outdoor seating, Petit Louis is a great spot to enjoy the summer weather while dining al fresco.

Peter’s Inn: Pull up to this Fells Point gem from 12-7 p.m. to grab thick slices of garlic bread, sweet sausage lasagna, braised pork shank with cheesy grits, and more.

Restaurante Tio Pepe: To get a taste of authentic Spanish cuisine at home, order carry-out by calling 410-539-4675 from noon to 8 p.m. The team will also offer delivery through DoorDash, UberEats, and Postmates within a limited radius from the restaurant.

Sammy’s Trattoria: Sammy’s Trattoria is Station North is offering curbside pickup and delivery through Uber Eats, GrubHub, Postmates, and Slice. They are also partnering with local NPO’s & Under Armor to deliver large quantity orders to families and first responders in need.

Sobo Cafe: This Federal Hill staple is ready to serve all of your needs with delivery via Doordash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats, as well as individually packaged catered meals available via contactless delivery. Browse the menu full of comfort foods including stuffed eggplant, seared salmon, and a family-size chorizo mac and cheese. There’s also keto and paleo-friendly meals, weekly specials such as Burger Nights on Thursdays, and plenty of growlers and adult beverages to-go.

Tapas Teatro: Break away from your typical takeout routine and plan a menu of small plates to pair with sangria and wine from this Station North gem. Order for carryout or delivery via ChowNow for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday.

True Chesapeake Oyster Co.: While the restaurant is closed, you can still pick up wine, liquor, six-packs, and swag from True Chesapeake, where general manager and beverage director Chelsea Gregoire will be busy hand-picking and packing orders. Email chelsea@truechesapeake.com to see selections from the restaurant’s daily price list, available for drive-thru pickup.

Verde Pizza: Verde Pizza in Canton is serving takeout and delivery, including cocktail kits, from 12-8:30 p.m. daily. Be sure to have your home pizza cutters ready, as the team has stopped slicing its pies in an effort to reduce any additional handling of the food. Place your orders through the restaurant’s website, Uber Eats, or Grubhub.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

Attman’s Delicatessen: Attman’s is open for carryout and curbside pickup. Ten people are allowed inside at a time, but the shop is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. Curbside orders can be called in at 410-563-2666 or placed online.

Atwater’s: All five of Atwaters’ locations are open for takeout and delivery through GrubHub and Uber Eats, with updated business hours. The Belvedere location is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, Canton and Catonsville are open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Hopkins is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Kenilworth is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Aveley Farms Coffee: Stop by to get coffee, merch, and grinds to-go from 8-12 p.m. on weekdays and 8-2 p.m. on weekends.

Baby’s on Fire: Both locations in Mt. Vernon and Fells Point are offering online takeout orders on coffee, breakfast, lunch, and merch.

Bottoms Up Bagels: This fan-favorite bagel purveyor is offering standard menu items to be ordered through its website, with specials once a week. Sandwiches, bulk bagels, lox, and spreads are all available for home delivery on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Orders can be placed through Waverly Farmers Market on Saturdays, and orders through Bmore Kitchen can be placed here.

Ceremony Coffee Roasters: All three Ceremony locations at Harbor Point, Cross Street Market, and in Mt Vernon now offer carryout and gift cards for purchase. The shop’s mobile ordering app is up and running for all cafes, and first-time users will receive 25 percent-off their entire order. Bottles of wine are available for carryout at the Harbor Point location only.

Charmed Kitchen: In addition to breakfast, lunch, and wine to-go, Charmed Kitchen is currently offering grocery essentials. Stock up on milk, butter, and other pantry staples between your next grocery delivery and grab a bite to-go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Charmery: This beloved Baltimore sweets staple is accepting online orders 24/7. Pick up from 2 to 8 p.m. at The Charmery’s Towson and Hampden locations, which are offering deliveries from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Cheese Galore and More: To encourage social distancing, Cheese Galore and More is only allowing 1-2 customers in at a time. However, you can still stop into the gourmet cheese shop, which offers made-to-order paninis and necessities like coffee and olive oil. Grab wine and beer to-go and call 410-244-5515 for curbside and takeout, which is available 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and 12 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Common Ground: Curbside pickup and local delivery in Hampden will be available from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.

The Corner Pantry: This Mt. Washington haunt has come up with a variety of family-style dinners available for carryout. Among them are vegetarian lasagna, lemon chicken with basmati rice, and French toast casserole. Gift cards are also available.

Dangerously Delicious Pies: Visit the Canton location for carryout or curbside delivery every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Enjoy a $5 discount when purchasing a whole pie, and the $22 date-night deal still stands. Orders can be placed by calling 410-522-7437 or though GrubHub or Uber Eats.

The Daily Grind: Grab-and-go eats and drinks will be available from 7 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily.

Earthshake: Earthshake in Fells Point is offering curbside delivery and delivery through DoorDash so you can enjoy an acai bowl from home. Call 410-276-0777 to place your order.

Felici Cafe: Felici Cafe and Catering in Govans has a boxed lunch menu available for delivery or carryout from its kitchen. Orders can be called in or placed on the website. Felici is also donating boxed lunches to a local soup kitchen to give back to the community.

Golden West Cafe: This Hampden go-to is now offering carryout, curbside pickup, and delivery of its updated food, drink, and merchandise menus. Orders can be called in at 410-889-8891, or placed for delivery through Uber Eats. Customers can also enjoy free door-to-door delivery when they order through the Toast Takeout app.

HomeMaid: Call ahead to order off of this Key Highway spot’s full supper menu for curbside pickup. The signature brunch menu will also be available to-go throughout the weekend.

LB Bakery: Grab-and-go service from 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m. includes coffee, housemade pastries, grilled salmon and chicken breast, lox platters, and side orders of mac and cheese. From 11 a.m.-7 p.m., the cafe will also offer $3 local craft beer cans and $12 bottles of wine.

Lenny’s Deli: Get your delicatessen fix with curbside pickup, carryout, and delivery from Lenny’s. The Baltimore mainstay is offering its full menu, including the famous corned beef sandwiches, breakfast options, deli counter offerings, and bakery items. Call 410-363-3353 to order.

Love Puddin’: Love Puddin’ is open for delivery from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Although pop-ups are closed, you can still enjoy flavors like lemon drop and butter crunch, brought right to your door (limit 3 per flavor.)

Miss Shirley’s Cafe: Satisfy all of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner needs with offerings from Miss Shirley’s, which will offer delivery through DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and Postmates, as well as online, phone, and walk-in orders.

Nalley Fresh: With a little determination and ingenuity, a drive-thru was just created in Nalley Fresh’s Hunt Valley location, allowing you to pick from more than 100 toppings for your salad or bowl from the safety of your own car. Don’t have time to drive? Nalley Fresh has you covered, offering GrubHub delivery straight to your doorstep.

Order & Chaos Coffee: Swing by the Key Highway shop for carryout eats and drinks from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Customers can place orders by phone (410-244-1111) or order online through the shop’s website.

Plantbar: Get a bit of fresh air by visiting the Towson and Brewers Hill locations of this local juice bar and cafe, which are open for carryout. Delivery is also available via Grubhub and Postmates.

Pure Raw Juice: All four of Pure Raw Juice’s locations in Towson, Hampden, Federal Hill, and Bel Air are open for carryout only. Towson, Hampden, and Bel Air are open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Federal Hill location is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Rosina Gourmet: Operating solely out of its Thames Street location for the time being, Rosina Gourmet is offering catering and carryout while also working with partners at Our Daily Bread to provide meals to those in need. Owner Jim Lancaster hopes to reopen the Lombard Street location downtown soon (with special deals on carryout orders), but, until then, customers can enjoy sandwiches, soups, salads, and more from Thames Street.

Stone Mill Bakery & Cafe: Stone Mill has amped up its carryout business with its sumptuous selection of soups, sandwiches, and salads, plus daily specials like lobster rolls and brisket. Grocery items such as milk, eggs, and bread are also on offer. Customers can order online or call in for curbside pickup or carryout during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The $20 dinner, including soup or salad, a main course, two sides, and a dessert, is one of the best deals in town.

Teavolve Cafe: Open from Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Teavolve Cafe is still serving customer favorites. Menu staples like spiced chai, red velvet pancakes, omelettes, and sangria pouches are available for curbside pickup and local delivery. Orders can be placed on its website or called in at 410-522-1907.

THB Bagels & Deli: All locations of this beloved Baltimore cafe are offering 50 percent-off to-go orders for all hospital employees and first responders. THB is also fulfilling curbside orders placed on its website and mobile app.

Vagrant Coffee: Both Vagrant Coffee locations, Milk & Honey Market and 3 Bean Coffee, are open everyday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Waffie Waffle:Waffie in Hampden is offering curbside pickup through its website and delivery with Uber Eats. Customer-favorite desserts like “Chicken and Waffles,” “The Netflix and Chill Box,” and “Chicken Sliders by the Bay” remain on the menu to enjoy.

Zeke’s Coffee: Step up to the carryout window at this Harford Road hangout to fuel up while properly social distancing. The window will be open daily from 8 p.m.-4 p.m.

Seafood Spots

The Urban Oyster: Quell all seafood hankerings with the oysters, sandwiches, and snacks at this Locust Point spot, which is offering curbside service via online ordering Friday through Sunday.

Nick’s Fish House: This waterfront hangout has plenty of crab cakes to go around. Order all menu items to-go from 12-6 p.m. daily.

Worldly Eats

Baltimore Chef Shop: Hampden culinary school Baltimore Chef Shop is offering two new ways to dine, with prepared dinners and make-at-home kits. Prepared dinners range from Moroccan to vegetarian Indian, and serve two for $27.99. They are available for curbside pickup from 3-5 p.m. this Friday through Sunday, and orders must be placed 8 p.m. the previous day. Additionally, bake-at-home kits are $13.99, with recipes including coffee cake and chocolate chip scones.

Curbside pickup for these meals are from 3-5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday. Baltimore Chef Shop is contributing to relief efforts by donating a portion of all wages to the One Fair Wage’s Coronavirus Emergency Tipped and Service Worker Support Fund.

Cocina Luchadoras: Cocina Luchadoras in Upper Fells Point will be offering carryout and delivery through Uber Eats. Customers can expect both new and staple dishes to enjoy.

Ekiben: While Ekiben has decided to temporarily close its Fells Point location for one week to give its staff some much-needed rest, its new Hampden carryout is serving up steamed buns, rice bowls, and plenty of tempura broccoli to-go. Order online or via the Ekiben app.

Helmand Kabobi: The fast-casual, little-sister version of The Helmand in Mt. Vernon offers traditional Afghani salads, bowls, wraps, soups, and desserts. Customers can order carryout or delivery via Grubhub and Doordash.

Joe Benny’s: Joe Benny’s “Meatball Window” is open and ready to serve curbside orders of the restuarant’s famous meatballs and fresh foccacia pizzas. Pickup or delivery for all menu items is offered daily from 4-9 p.m.

Naked Grill Sushi: Naked Grill Sushi in Canton is offering carryout and delivery through GrubHub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats. Customers can enjoy Japanese and Thai food and sushi, with updated business hours here.

Mexican On The Run: Owner Jimmy Longoria has you covered with tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and weekly specials served from his fan-favorite food truck. Customers are encouraged to pre-order online and schedule their pickup times, but Longoria is also accepting call-ahead and walk-up orders on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Nepal House: Nepal House in Mt. Vernon has expanded its delivery hours from 9:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Puerto 511: Got a hankering for some authentic ceviche? This Peruvian gem is offering its dishes via online ordering for carryout or delivery.

Tony Loco’s Bar & Restaurant: This Italian and Puerto Rican restaurant in Howard County is giving away one free roll of toilet paper with every carryout order. Plus, 10 percent of all restaurant proceeds will be donated to charitable causes.

Trinacria Ristorante & Bar: For all of the makings of an Italian feast, carry out from Trinacria in Mt. Vernon, which is fully stocked with prepped meals to-go. Plus, carry out pizzas, pastas, and beer and wine.

The Local Fry: Order your favorite fries, wings, bowls, and banh-mi sandwiches from The Local Fry online or for delivery via Uber Eats.

The Verandah Kitchen: The Verandah Kitchen is offering family-style meals to-go. Head to the restaurant’s Hampden location from 4-7 p.m for favorites like chicken curry and paneer tikka masala (each come with a side of basmati rice and serve 4-5.)

Zaatar Mediterranean Cuisine: Online ordering for takeout and delivery from this Federal Hill spot is up and running. Favorite dishes include falafel, grape leaves, shawarma, and spinach pie.

*Additional reporting by Grace Hebron, Sarah Raymond, and Ally Wade.

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Leave it to the Creative Alliance to use these strange times to get, well, creative.

For more than 20 years, the local arts organization and venue has been a hub for artistic performances of every stripe, with its Highlandtown stage host to a diverse medley of talent from Baltimore and beyond. That is until the end of last week, when its Patterson Theater went dark as social distancing measures were put into place across the city and country, first barring groups of more than 250, followed shortly after by those of more than 50, and now 10. These restrictions had an immediate impact on artistic communities, many of which have long made their living by performing in front of crowds.

But in an effort to support local musicians, Creative Alliance has found a way to still bring live music to the local masses with its brand-new series, Sidewalk Serenades.

For a donation, these “close (but not too close)” personal concerts will offer city residents the opportunity to have a short musical performance delivered to their homes or sent as a gift to friends and family, with musicians performing several songs outside while keeping a safe distance from the sidewalk or street. Think of it as a singing telegram for these strange times.

“One of the magical things about Creative Alliance is, when we got together to figure out our messaging around closing down the building, we immediately started thinking, ‘Well, what if we . . . !’ How do we stay relevant as an arts organization and how we keep the artists and contractors that are really the lifeblood of this organization working?,” says performance director Josh Kohn.

Beginning this weekend, concerts will start with Americana veteran Caleb Stine on Saturday, March 21, followed by Old-Time folk quartet Homestead Street Band, as well as trumpeter Brandon Woody with percussionist Allen Bernard Branch, all on Sunday, March 22, with several time slots throughout each day and more artists to be announced shortly.

Donations from each performance will be split between the artists and Creative Alliance, while gratis concerts will also be coordinated for families or organizations in need.

“We have more in the works [and] lots of interested musicians,” says communications director Heather Keating. “We will continue for as long as we can—the more support, the more musicians we can include.”

In an effort to keep their hourly staff employed, the organization will also be releasing a number of other creative events and activities in the coming days.

With next weekend’s second annual Big Baltimore Kite Festival cancelled, families can now bring the festival home with kids’ activity kits, including one kite, an arts and craft project, a dance ribbon, coloring book pages, and more, available for both indoor and outdoor use for $30 via delivery or pickup.

And with K-12 schools temporarily closed throughout the state, Creative Alliance will also present free Drag Storytime on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 p.m. via Facebook Live, with a live reading of family-friendly books, with both children and parents encouraged to dress up in their fanciest attire. Tips will be accepted through each drag queen’s personal Venmo account.

“It’s been a tough couple of days, for sure,” says Josh Kohn. “We’re trying to come up with fun ways that are creative and engage the community while also keeping the people we love and who are a part of our family working and employed.”

With mandated closures and practices of social distancing sweeping the state, Baltimoreans are forced to adapt to their new normal amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Here, we take a look at city spaces that were once full—congested Inner Harbor streets now silent, stocked grocery store shelves now barren, bustling restaurants now indefinitely shut down—as Charm City slows down to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

“Can I give you a heart?” Shelley Brown, a local wellbeing facilitator and speaker, asks the stream of patrons entering Lighthouse Liquors in Canton. While many decline, some brighten and carefully pluck a red enamel heart pin from her gloved palm.

“I don’t know what else to do for humanity,” she explains to passerbys. The pins are a symbol of mindfulness, as Brown encourages those who carry them to practice being present. “With everything that’s going on, our fear and our panic take us into the future of things that we actually have no control over. You can hold space for that emotion and notice it, but also remember you’re right here, right now.”

Earlier this week, longtime local publicist and hospitality advocate Dave Seel started the Baltimore Area Restaurant Industry Relief Group, a Facebook page for a reeling restaurant community in the aftermath of statewide closures amid the COVID-19 contagion.

Seel started his grassroots group on Tuesday morning, a day after Governor Larry Hogan announced the closing of area restaurants and bars, many of which have decided to stay open for curbside delivery and to-go orders. Within 24 hours, the page had more than 600 members.

“My mom is a life coach,” Seel says. “She’s always said, ‘Put your anxiety into action.’ That’s what I’m doing here. This is the World War II of our generation.”

Seel is hoping that the page will serve as a central hub for service industry professionals, including restaurateurs, chefs, cooks, and servers, to find resources in a quickly unfolding crisis that threatens to leave many in dire straits.

In a business where many hospitality professionals live paycheck to paycheck, the closing of restaurants and bars both in Maryland, and around the country, has had a profound impact on an industry that employs 16.54 million people in the U.S.

We spoke with Seel to hear more about his advocacy work in the community and why it’s important to support our local businesses now, when they need it most.

Give us a sense of why it’s hard to make a living in the hospitality industry?
Only a few people, usually two people in an entire restaurant—the general manager and the chef, and maybe a sous chef—are salaried. In this country, servers and line cooks are paid minimum wage or just higher than minimum wage starting at $12 to $15 an hour, and then it’s tip based. For some people like bartenders, I would guess that 60 percent of salaries are tips. Take that away and they can’t survive. And many of these people don’t have savings accounts—if they do, they’re likely small.

Why did you decide to form this group?
I was talking with a friend of mine, Angie Lee, who is the operations manager at Atwater’s. On Monday, after Governor Hogan’s announcement, she shared with me a James Beard Foundation webinar. For me, the big takeaway I had was the way federal assistance is going to be disseminated through the states. Unemployment and all that advocacy work has to be focused on a state level. Governor Hogan will decide what assistance is given. I saw friends in the industry asking where to go, and I was like, ‘I need some place to consolidate these resources, focus on the advocacy, and share.’ People need a rally point. That’s what this group has become, and my hope is that we can all get through this together.

So give us some specifics on what your goals are for the group.
Angie and I are working on a Maryland restaurant relief proposal—this is something that is being handled state by state. John Shields [of Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen] and Ned Atwater [of Atwater’s] are going to look over it. We are drafting a petition form to say we are a group of Baltimore-area hospitality people—and what we need is pretty simple: We need assurance that we are not going to lose our homes. We need food and shelter.

I want people to know that they are not alone. They will be helped. If someone is struggling or goes homeless or needs food, we will help them. Restaurant owners have had to lay off a ton of people and may be losing their own businesses. There’s a lot uncertainty out there. This group is to answer questions as we figure them out.

What points are you planning to make in the petition?
There will be this mass group of people who don’t have access to food. Soup kitchens and community centers are not going to work because we can’t be together. There needs to be some sort of solution where people can use credits or get [food stamps] to be able to purchase food. And we want assurance they won’t be evicted. On the back side of this, there needs to be employment opportunities. How can we re-purpose these people, most of whom are young? If we’re going to be dealing with healthcare shortages, let’s take all of the restaurant people and employ them for the time being.

What will the long-lasting impact of restaurant and bar closures be?
We will have no restaurants. We will have homeless people. We will have all of the ripple effects as we did with The Great Depression.

With all the turmoil in the world, why is this an important concern for the general public?
People can eat at home—it’s not about the food. It’s a matter of culture and community. Everyone can cook food at home, but these places are community gathering places that are vital to our culture in Baltimore and the world of food and restaurants. Dining is integral to our reality as humans. If we’re just going to let the people who are bringing those experiences into your lives fall by the wayside, we are dismissing a core part of who we are. These people are the artists, the musicians, the culture bearers.

Boris Lushniak, the Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, has decades of experience. He served as the U.S. Deputy Surgeon General for five years, worked at the Office of Counterterrorism, and was the commander of a United States Public Health Service medical unit in Liberia, which housed the only U.S. government hospital providing care to Ebola patients.

He’s been on the front lines for more than 20 years, but he’s never seen anything like the coronavirus pandemic.

“No one’s really experienced this,” Lushniak says of COVID-19, of which there are currently 85 confirmed cases in Maryland. “It’s an invisible threat—you don’t see the virus, and that brings in excess fear. This is uncharted terrain.”

The Maryland Department of Health has provided guidelines for what people should do if they think they might need to get tested, asking for patience with regard to the amount of tests available. The department is imploring those who are experiencing symptoms to discuss testing with a health care provider, as only a health care provider can order COVID-19 testing, collect samples, and send them to a lab to finish the process.

The test, which includes a swab of the nose or throat, is carried out at the discretion of these providers, who can also offer information as to how long it will take to get results. The state of Maryland is also working to create drive-through testing sites, specifically at the state’s Vehicle Emissions Inspection centers.

Overall, Lushniak says that it’s important to strike a balance between real concern and becoming overwhelmed by the influx of information that surrounds the conversation: “The whole issue of panic and worry doesn’t have a place right now,” he says.

To get a clearer sense of the virus, we spoke with Lushniak about the measures taken to combat it, what you can do to flatten the curve, and what to expect in the coming days, weeks, and months ahead.

In your opinion, what are the key facts that people should know about the virus?
We know that in the majority of people who have been infected with this virus, the symptoms have been mild. What we don’t know in the United States is the amount of people infected who are totally asymptomatic. Because we don’t have a vaccine, everyone needs to take seriously that we’re in a new phase of fighting this virus that depends on medical science.

What should people do if they’re feeling sick?
Stay away from others. Don’t go into work. Don’t go into school. Hands are key components of the transmission of this virus. Make sure you’re taking good care of your hands and washing them all the time. With coughing and sneezing, sneeze into a sleeve or a tissue, throw the tissue away, and then wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. This virus doesn’t get in through the skin. It doesn’t get in through any other orifices of the body other than the mouth or nose. You have to make sure that the area around you is clean. And what’s most important is the whole new concept of social distancing—standing six feet away if possible. We want to fight this and do it together.

How is what we’re experiencing now different from outbreaks in the past?
We have to see whether our efforts are going to work using all of the 21st-century skills and tools we have. There’s a major difference between where we are today and the Spanish flu in 1918 and 1919. A hundred years ago, no one could see that virus under a microscope. Now, within a few weeks, we have the full RNA genome of this virus. That’s 100 years of progress. That’s what makes this time unique from an optimistic viewpoint. We’ve never been here before with this type of science.

What do you anticipate the timeline for fighting this virus will look like?
Well, because we’ve been lagging behind in diagnostic testing, we’ve been using the wrong terminology in saying, “Here’s the number of cases per day.” Those are only the reported cases. We need to specify because we’ve not been really good on the diagnostic testing front. Because we’re going to have allegedly many more tests being available, and they are going to be used much more widely, in the next 10-plus days, we’re going to see almost an alarming surge of people with positive tests.

In the near future, we’re going to be placing more of an emphasis on the only weapon we have in hand, which is flattening the curve. The last thing we want is for these people to get really sick, which then breaks down the medical care system. This is real, but we can battle this. We just have to do it in innovative ways.

I always tell my students we have to be optimistic. Pessimists are washed out early in a public health career. We have to be optimists that science, technology, and know-how will get us to an endpoint. That endpoint is not the next few weeks, or even the next few months.

In times like these, are there things that bring you hope?
You know, last night—both my daughters are home, and we had a nice dinner. Both of them are interested in a career in medicine and are pre-med majors in school. I turned to them at dinner and explained that you have to look at this from several perspectives. This is a unique event that no one on this planet has ever experienced. It’s been 100 years since the Spanish flu, and the beauty of this is we really will test our mettle as a society and as scientists and people in the medical profession. The optimism is there. We will persevere, we will learn things from this, and we will be better the next time this happens. That’s my hope.

This has been the longest—checks calendar—three days, said every parent everywhere.

As we all adjust to our new normal (working from home and homeschooling), it’s okay if we are not thriving at both. It takes time.

Thanks to social media, I have seen everything from a friend who has created a virtual school in her home (with a school motto, strict schedule, and desk) to those who are like, “how do I log onto Schoology?” I’m somewhere in the middle.

I know in my gut this “Coronoa-cation” will stretch beyond the two weeks, so I’ve allowed my kids a slow ease into this new mindset. As a friend reminded me, this is a loss and adjustment for them, too.

Sure, the thought of unlimited video games (we’re not quite there yet) and late bedtimes (we are there) sounds appealing, but I know they are missing their friends, routines, teachers, and classes.

It’s okay to feel sad for them even though we know it’s for the greater good. It’s okay to be angry that the school play is probably canceled, as well as the spring concerts (which I had won front row tickets for at a school fundraiser!) and the annual amazing art show, and the pool party for fifth grade graduation. They might sound insignificant, but they create a childhood, a memory block.

I woke up this morning realizing my daughter’s IEP evaluation, pre-middle school, which we carefully orchestrated, isn’t happening. Twelfth graders won’t get to go to prom or be named valedictorian. Life is canceled.

For my kids, that means no soccer, lacrosse, Lego club, and green team. Just last week, as my other kids roller-skated around our elementary school, my son, Zeke, was giving me the rundown on what every third grader does at recess. So and so always plays soccer. These kids always go on the slides. Zeke named the friends that “run a sushi restaurant.” “I’m the manager,” he told me. And just like that…there’s no more school. No more play dates. No more playgrounds.

So what are we doing to stay sane? Well, here are a few resources I have found helpful as I navigate this new world with my four kids.

Make a Schedule That Works for You

If you want a daily schedule, make one. Zeke insisted on writing one up yesterday. (I talked him down from two hours of math.) Dismissal is from “3:33 p.m. until the next morning.” His twin, Gideon was like, “Nah. I don’t need a schedule.” Do what works best for your family. So far we’ve been doing a little bit of schoolwork in the morning and then a family hike/walk in the afternoon.

Get Outside

Right now we are able to leave our homes, so we have been taking long walks. Some favorites: Lake Roland, Double Rock Park Trail, NCR Trail (great for biking, too), hikes around Oregon Ridge Nature Center, and Cascade Falls Trail at Patapsco Valley State Park. Yesterday we ended up in Daniels, Maryland, straddling the Patapsco River.

There are some abandoned (read: haunted) buildings and a beautiful waterfall. The main lot was filled, so I ended up at a secondary lot, which in retrospect was probably not the secondary lot I was looking for. We ended up walking on train tracks for a mile or two before finding the area we were looking for. We used saw animal bones on the track, found old railroad nails, and conquered a few fears. It felt lesson-ish.

Take Advantage of Virtual Resources

The Internet is your friend. I have seen and saved countless posts, from virtual field trips to “15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home” to #OperationStoryTime, in which beloved children’s authors are reading stories and posting to Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. And thanks to Cool Progeny—another amazing resource—I heard about Mo Willems offering a daily Lunch Doodle, in conjunction with the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, through the end of the month.

Locally, Ashley Battersby, a math resource teacher in Baltimore County (and full-disclosure, a favorite babysitter of ours) has been posting videos of her reading math picture books, sharing a math game, or teaching math strategy on her YouTube channel. Additionally, Trevor Twist, artist and owner of Mitchell School of Fine Arts in Mt. Washington’s Coppermine Fieldhouse, is offering his youth art classes via virtual Zoom meetings for the time being.

Also, local libraries are offering digital options such as e-books for kids, movies, and e-magazines. (If you don’t have a library card you can sign up for an e-card in Baltimore County and Baltimore City.)

I have a few friends that home school and they have also been posting resources. This is one of the best ones I’ve seen. It’s literally hundreds of free educational resources including space stuff, math and reading games, SAT prep, foreign language lessons, and even Carmen Sandiego (glad to see she is still around) stories and videos.

Ask a Teacher

Our wonderful teachers have all made themselves available over our classroom app and email to answer questions and offer resources. I have also seen countless teacher friends posting that they are accessible for Facebook questions or guidance offline. It lists their area of expertise and areas they can help. (And can we just take a minute to acknowledge how amazing teachers are.)

Most importantly, be kind to yourself. We are all doing the best we can. (Completely unrelated: Are liquor stores still open?)

In an effort to decrease the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Hogan took Maryland’s social distancing efforts a step further by ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, movie theaters, and gyms.

We are all feeling a bit on edge and, while our wellness sanctuaries have just closed, it continues to be important to prioritize our mental and physical health.

“Exercise helps keep you focused and centered. I know it helps me reset my mind when I’m getting stir crazy,” says Reed Sothoron, general manager and personal trainer at the Under Armour Performance Center. “It can be tough to workout from home…we join gyms and classes for accountability. But, with all these changes, we’re going to have to get creative. We can use this time with ourselves to cultivate practices that better our bodies and minds.”

Baltimore has already begun, proving that, as a community, we can make the best of a challenging situation. Local gyms, studios, and personal trainers are taking their support online, providing digital access to their services with streaming videos, workout ideas, customized programs, and more.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to support your favorite local businesses. And joining digital workouts and sharing with others helps your local gyms and instructors.

As Sothoron reminds us, “If you believe in the person you’ve been working with, continue to support them if you can. You helping out, even a little bit, could be the way to help them get through this.”

Here, we round up a list of available and planned opportunities from the fitness community in Baltimore. Be sure to check back throughout the week as we continue to update with more classes

Reed Sothoron, will be hosting a daily workout at 5:45 p.m. on his Instagram page. “With routines mostly in disarray, I want to help create some normalcy and focus for people,” he says.“Go in your backyard or down to your basement and we’ll get in a good sweat for the day.”

Free Baltimore Yoga is taking some of their regularly scheduled classes online. You can currently follow a 30-minute surrender yoga flow with Emily Fleming. Check on their Facebook page for virtual sessions Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. and Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m.

Knockout Fitness has committed to doing two virtual workouts for those at home. This week, they will be sharing a workout at 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. every day on their Instagram and Facebook pages. In addition, you can also follow co-founder Jason Nissley on Instagram for daily workout moves. They will also be working on meal plans and personalized home workouts. Reach out directly for more information.

YogaWorks is offering access to their online platform, MyYogaWorks, for free until further notice with code ONLINE.

November Project Baltimore has shared a simple (but intense) workout for all on their Instagram page, and they plan to share additional at-home workouts Wednesday.

Nick Rodricks, local instructor and runner, plans to share workouts every Tuesday and Saturday morning on his Instagram page. He promises, “they will be goofy. They will be tough. And I’ll be joined by a Baltimore fitness legend for each one.”

Jason Williams of Charm City PT, is hosting a Morning Movement class via ZOOM for $10 Thursday at 5:00 p.m and Friday at 12:00 p.m. He also has a variety of workouts, meditations, and stretches available for home-use on his YouTube page and on the free Insight Timer app. Stay tuned to his Instagram for announcements about more live classes.

Marissa Walch, local fitness and wellness professional, is offering free flows and workouts on her YouTube channel, as well as small group, outdoor workouts where students can stay at least six feet apart.

Oksana Koval of Fitness by Oxy will be setting up online live workouts, private training, and small outdoor workouts. She has multiple barre, bootcamp, and TRX video workouts on her Instagram page that you can try at home. She will also be creating a two-week customized plan for people based on their at-home equipment. Reach out directly for more information.

Katie Ficca, local vinyasa, aerial, and SUP yoga instructor, has begun sharing videos on her Instagram page and plans to create more yoga and family workouts for those working from home with kids.

Alexa Bedingfield, former owner of the LIFT Baltimore studio, will be offering her minimal-equipment workouts through a 30-day at-home plan. She’s bringing together some of the past workouts from LIFT and will be offering the plan for $30 via her Instagram.

Sokol Baltimore will be posting a daily video on their Facebook page of a new exercise move meant for all ages.

Movement Lab will be offering virtual one hour NIA classes on Facebook Live and Vimeo to join on your own time.

Barrevolution in Timonium is hosting virtual classes through their website. Some of their instructors are creating five to 30-minute on-demand video workouts for clients to download and complete from home.

Reflex Functional Fitness will be hosting live workouts on their Instagram page Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. and Saturday at 9:00 a.m. All classes will be Reflex-style HIIT, but modified to be completed at home.

Industry Athletics, including CrossFit Federal Hill and CrossFit Harbor East, will be providing live workouts on their Facebook pages, as well as through Zoom and SugarWOD.

Charm City Fitness is offering daily classes on Facebook Live and Vimeo. Reach out directly and check back on their Instagram page for more information.

M. Power Yoga has live streaming now available on ZOOM, starting Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday will also have class at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 pm. Online classes will be free to members and available for purchase to others for $10 drop in. To participate, you must sign up online on their website.

Rev Cycle Studio will be hosting daily live workouts through their Instagram account. Check Instagram for the detailed schedule.

Maryland Athletic Club will be offering a virtual club for members with hundreds of classes lead by some of their top fitness professionals.

Core Cycle Studios will be taking their classes to Burn Along, an online fitness platform. They are offering access for free if you email heather@corecyclestudios.com. There will also be private one-on-one barre, cycle, and yoga sessions. Email for further details.

FX Studios is now offering free access to their digital fitness app using the promo code: fitfromhome.

Towne Barre in Towson will be offering virtual classes every day. In order to participate, you must download the ZOOM app and sign up online through their website (as you would for a one of their normal studio classes). All students signed up for the virtual class will receive an email prior to class with a link to the live stream.

Core Power Yoga is offering free, on-demand classes on their website Additionally, special member-only classes will be launching March 19th.

Pilates House is uploading mini mat Pilates workouts to their website You can also schedule a virtual private class with one of their instructors by emailing contact@pilateshousebaltimore.com.

Mantra Fit in Severna Park is offering free daily bodyweight metabolic strength workouts in their Get Mantra Fit community group on Facebook Anyone is welcome to join.

Baltimore Yoga Village is offering live streaming of their yoga classes on ZOOM.

SoulBody, a Baltimore based barre program, can be found on the fitness-sharing app BurnAlong with many of their local instructors. Once logged in, search “soul body” to find classes.

Bamboo Moves Yoga is streaming live classes to their Facebook page and Zoom. Check the page daily for updates on time and instructor. In addition, they have uploaded free class videos to their YouTube page for access any time.

Fit2Go, local Baltimore in-home personal training team, is streaming live home workouts daily on their Facebook page. They also have an extensive database with full home workouts and exercise tutorial videos on their website that they are updating regularly.

Last week, many area restaurants quickly responded to the COVID-19 crisis, taking precautionary measures by increasing sanitation efforts, printing disposable menus, sanitizing surfaces, and distancing tables.

As concern heightened throughout the weekend, some restaurants announced voluntary closures, including Fells Point businesses Max’s Taphouse, Kooper’s Tavern, and The Horse You Came in On Saloon.

Tony Foreman, whose Foreman Wolf Restaurant Group owns Charleston, Petit Louis, Cinghiale, Bar Vasquez, and Johnny’s, says there was a major downturn in diners over the weekend.

“Saturday night was fine, but you could feel it coming,” he says. “On a typical Sunday at Johnny’s we do 150 to 180 dinners. Last night we did 35.”

And then today, the hammer dropped.

While many restaurants continued to weigh what to do, Governor Larry Hogan ordered the closing of all Maryland bars and restaurants by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 16 to slow the spread of COVID-19. The deadly virus has wreaked havoc on businesses across the state—and nowhere is this more acutely felt than in the restaurant industry, a business based on social contact.

According to figures from Resy, a national reservation platform for higher-end restaurants, as of last Wednesday business was down by 20 percent across the United States from a year ago, by 30 percent in New York City, and as much as 60 percent in Seattle, with the highest reported number of cases and deaths in the country.

At his press conference Monday morning, the governor said the unprecedented steps “may seem scary,” continuing that the state has never faced anything like this before. “This is going to be much worse than anyone is understanding,” Hogan said.

Hogan is allowing for area businesses to stay open for delivery and curbside takeout. Many restaurants have been making the switch in the past few days, including The Corner Pantry, Foraged, Baby’s on Fire, Bon Fresco, Nepenthe Brewing Co., R. House, Stone Mill Bakery and Cafe, Orto, Sobo Market, and Clavel, which is offering its signature dishes along with special batches of spicy mezcalitas to-go.

In Little Italy, Aldo’s chef/owner Sergio Vitale is leading the charge with a new website for patrons to get food delivery and curbside pickup from neighborhood favorites including Aldo’s, Café Gia, La Scala, and Lew Gambino’s.

“Gia [Fracassetti] and I came up with this in response to these challenging times,” says Vitale, who points out that his full menu will be available to patrons. “My own father, chef Aldo, is 75 years old and at risk. We must all do our part to mitigate and combat the spread of COVID-19.” Vitale also points out that purchasing online gift cards to Little Italy restaurants is “another way to support the businesses you love.”

Even restaurants that don’t usually do a big takeout service are encouraging diners to place orders and pick them up curbside. All Foreman Wolf restaurants, with the exception of Charleston, for instance, will offer takeout, as well as delivery services at their Bin 201 and Bin 604 wine shops in Annapolis and Harbor East.

Josh and Stephanie Hershkovitz, the siblings who own Hersh’s in South Baltimore, embraced the carry-out only model over the weekend, even before Hogan’s mandate.

“It was a difficult decision to close,” said Josh, in a lengthy email filled with emotion. “At the end of the day, we both feel that if you believe in the human endeavor of science, you have to live by the practices that bear the best results, with respect to pandemic mitigation.”

This past Friday evening, Hersh’s saw a packed house and hosted a rehearsal dinner in the upstairs dining room.

“This crazy night filled us with joy at our restaurants’ impact on our community, but also a sense of dread as we watched folks waiting for tables, reaching over each other to get drinks, and rubbing up against each other as servers walked by them to get food to tables,” Josh added. “It was this packed night that steeled our resolve and made us commit to closing. We put so much love into our food and our hospitality that we have no doubt that our customers will see this move out of love, as well.”

At La Cuchara in Hampden, chef/co-owner Ben Lefenfeld said he and his team spent the whole morning preparing to shut down well before the governor made his announcement.

“I think that Governor Hogan is doing the right thing,” Lefenfeld says. “As a business owner, it was tough to figure out what to do. I’m glad we finally got some guidance.”

On a good day, the service industry operates on razor-thin margins. As workers scramble to make a living, employers are no doubt facing the tough decisions of laying off staff.

Alex Smith, president of Atlas Restaurant Group, concurs with Lefenfeld. “I agree the governor made the right decision for everybody,” he says, adding that his restaurants tried to stay open as long as possible to support their hourly employees, who rely on a base wage and tips from customers. “As a business with 1200 employees we can’t afford to pay all of them without revenue coming in.”

Lefenfeld adds that he and his team are weighing whether or not they will be open for carry-out next week, but for now they are selling gift cards.

“Twenty-five percent of the sale of the gift cards is going to our staff,” he says. “We are doing all that we can to keep people afloat.”

With regard to his 60 employees, Lefenfeld says that he is attempting to not let anyone go. “Everyone is using paid time off and we are hoping to pay our salaried employees through this entire ordeal,” he adds.

The Hershkovitz’s are trying to create other employment opportunities for their team.

“Being creative, we’ve come with several options for each staff member, from temporary unemployment to being part of our carry out/delivery operation to working at our father’s supermarket, which has no lack of positions for folks interested in working,” says Josh. “We have predicted our temporary closure will last about two weeks, but we will monitor the situation as it progresses.”

Though many chefs and restaurateurs are working diligently to secure employment for their staff, there is still a fear that some might not survive an indefinite shutdown: “This will close a lot of restaurants,” Foreman says. “A lot of places won’t be able to sustain this.”

Adds Smith, “It’s going to hurt.”

While the impact will be felt for some time to come, Lefenfeld points out that Charm City is uniquely resilient.

“The Baltimore restaurant community is a pretty tight-knit group,” he says. “People will rally, not just around the restaurants, but all of the small businesses in the city and support each other.”

With postponed or cancelled concerts being announced across the city, we’ve expanded the latest edition of The Big Baltimore Playlist to include 10 songs by local musicians to listen to right now, ranging from punk-infused hip-hop and dance-worthy pop music to meditative soundscapes. Check back each month for new top songs of the moment via our Spotify playlist and continue to support hometown acts by purchasing their music or merchandise.

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“Woke Me” by Chiffon
This beloved experimental R&B duo (now trio with the addition of bassist Will Ryerson, also of Other Colors) is back with their first new single in five years off their upcoming four-track EP. It’s a dreamy, seductive slow jam featuring sparkling layers of digital beats and singer Amy Reid’s ethereal vocals speaking to long-distance romance. All the more fitting a listen in an era of social distancing.

“Become A Mountain” by Dan Deacon
This might be the most inspiring song of 2020, with electronic maestro Dan Deacon guiding us toward a triumphant awakening on his new album, Mystic Familiar. Amidst swirling synth, building piano, and orchestral peaks, it’s chock full of advice about opening up your imagination and finding your inner strength, making it one we’ll likely turn to for a long time to come.

“Our Pathetic Age” by DJ Shadow ft. Samuel T. Herring
Somehow we missed this song when it was released last fall, but earlier this week, thanks to WTMD’s Baltimore Hit Parade, we discovered what instantly became one of our new favorite tracks of spring. The Cali-based DJ Shadow enlisted Future Islands frontman Sam Herring for this nostalgic dance track, with a steady funk-infused disco beat grooving beneath his distinctive vocal croons. All we can say is, thank you.

“Raspberry Gun” by Dyyo
We told you last fall that this up-and-coming experimental rapper was one to watch, and his new exploratory album, featuring a full live band, drives that very point home. It’s a powder keg of kinetic tracks that fuse hip-hop with genres like grunge, punk rock, and jazz in an improvisational way. We particularly like this sixth track for its old-school flavor, free-flowing vocal play, crashing drums, and the occasional flutter of brass.

“Sweet June Nectar” by Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon
Listening to Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon’s original “Almost Heaven,” which garnered him national attention via American Idol, you knew the Catonsville singer-songwriter had staying power, and this second single off his upcoming debut album, Namesake, proves exactly that. With raw piano, reverberating strings, and soaring vocals, the feel-good anthem captures the essence of youth, young love, and warm weather—all things we’ll gladly repeat in our minds like a mantra for weeks to come.

“Black-Eyed Susie” by Ken and Brad Kolodner
This weekend, father-son acoustic duo Ken and Brad Kolodner released their new album, Stony Run, named for the Baltimore waterway that runs between their respective homes. It’s full of energetic originals and inventive takes on Americana classics, like this seventh bluegrass-inspired track. As Brad’s warm vocals move to the forefront, an unlikely combination of instruments, the hammered mbira and gourd banjo, craft a hard-driving tune that gives a glimpse into what could be the genre’s future.

“Day2Day” by Micah E. Wood ft. Bobbi Rush
Baltimore’s resident troubadour Micah E. Wood returns with a new single and love song we’ve been waiting for all along. With an infectious pop melody and airy R&B backup vocals from singer-songwriter Bobbi Rush, two of the local scene’s up-and-coming artists tackle the overwhelming uncertainty of new romance, rejecting the doubt induced by former heartbreak, embracing the healing powers of love. Through groovy guitar chords and an uptempo dance beat, its final lyrics leave you with an unwavering sense of hope.

“Cry Like A Baby” by Movakween
Singer-songwriter MovaKween makes music for spiritual guidance, and this new slow jam feels especially timely for its message: giving everyone the space to handle hardship in their own way and time. Speaking to love, specifically, she humanizes the pain that comes with its loss, as her honeyed powerhouse vocals reach new peaks over a smooth, sultry R&B melody that gives homage to the genre’s greatest hits. If you don’t already, consider Movakween an artist to know now.

“Mother” by Outcalls
This new track by Britt Olsen-Ecker and Melissa Wimbish contemplates a dynamic topic: motherhood, with distant, dream-like vocals asking a big, ambiguous question—“Better now, but better when?”—ultimately leaving the answer, too, up to listeners. Made in collaboration with singer-songwriter/producer Jennifer Pague of L.A.’s. Vita and the Woolf, it’s a spacious, surreal melody that builds with a staccato beat, lush synth, and the ladies’ always-impressive operatic pipes.

“We” by The Soft Pink Truth
Looking for a song to get lost in? Consider this new track from The Soft Pink Truth, the solo project of Drew Daniel from celebrated local experimental duo Matmos, a meditative gift in these strange times. Off the upcoming album, Shall We Go On Sinning so That Grace May Increase?, it’s a soft, sparse, sparkling soundscape, dancing between sublime minimalism and a trance-music rave, inspiring listeners to find moments of self-care and healing. It couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

As steps are put into place to limit the spread of coronavirus, the music industry, at home and across the country, is being hit with an onslaught of postponed or cancelled concerts, festivals, and tours, as, without crowds, much of its livelihood to a screeching halt. In the past week, SXSW called off its annual gathering in Austin, Coachella rescheduled for October, and stages at the likes of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall went temporarily dark.

At SXSW, Baltimore’s own TT The Artist was set to premiere her upcoming music documentary, Dark City: Beneath The Beat, while rapper/educator MC Bravado and the Lineup Room’s Brandon Lackey were set to lead a panel on music education. And back at home, musicians are seeing the ripple effects on their own turf.

“Traditional methods of supporting one’s favorite bands, like attendance, are out the window right now, as we also need to physically socially distance ourselves to contain this virus,” says Corynne Ostermann, frontwoman of local post-punk band Natural Velvet. “But when you remove the public sphere, suddenly artists’ work becomes invisible.”

This week, Baltimore musicians such as Dan Deacon, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Lower Dens, Horse Lords, Super City, Cris Jacobs, and Butch Dawson (who also released a rap song—and much-needed dose of good humor—on hand-washing), to name a few, all postponed upcoming or ongoing tour dates. Others, such as Abdu Ali, Joy Postell, Outcalls, and Romantic States, have had to postpone or cancel their shows. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which has already been in the midst of a period of dire economic uncertainty, is on hiatus until the end of the month.

“It’s really heartbreaking because we’ve been booking and planning [our] tour since September,” says Greg Wellham of indie-pop group Super City. “It’s sad but the responsible thing to do. We all have to keep moving forward and try to stay optimistic.”

This Saturday’s beloved Version dance party by DJ Trillnatured and rapper Kotic Couture has also been cancelled at The Crown, while the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival at Creative Alliance and the Charm City Bluegrass Festival’s Battle of the Bands finals at The 8×10 have been postponed until further notice.

Local venues, from Rams Head Live! to the Metro Gallery, have closed their doors until at least late March. At press time, venues such as the Ottobar and An Die Musik planned to remain open for certain upcoming events, with both citing enhanced cleaning and sanitation efforts.

Big and small, “All arts organizations are taking a major hit at this point,” says Josh Kohn, performance director of Creative Alliance, which, like many others, instituted a new refund and exchange policy for previously purchased tickets, and is currently brainstorming ways to support artists, such as donation-fueled front-porch concerts. “If people have disposable income and want to make a donation, by all means. If you want to support artists directly, you can always buy their product on Bandcamp. We do understand that ticket buyers are susceptible in this economy, too.”

Purchasing a musician’s music and merchandise online, through individual websites and platforms like the aforementioned Bandcamp and iTunes, is one way to help. Fans can also subscribe to their crowdfunding pages like Patreon, or donate directly. Meanwhile, Maryland Citizens for the Arts has created a list of resources for these independent artists.

“Artists, service industry professionals, venues, promoters, small-to-medium businesses and workers, and more are getting financially hit really hard right now,” wrote Charm City Bluegrass organizers on social media. “Buy merch, send some tips, ask them how you can support. It helps.”

Also check out our The Big Baltimore Playlist, where we showcase must-hear songs by local musicians.

When Julie Lilienfeld looked around her vintage and consignment store, Wishbone Reserve, on Sunday, she could tell that something was off. The streets outside the Hampden shop were empty, there was plenty of parking on Falls Road, and the number of customers browsing through the store’s antique wares had dropped significantly since the day prior.

That was when Lilienfeld and co-owners Athena Hoffberger and Ryan Haase realized that they needed to prepare for their business to take a financial hit as the coronavirus and its effects continue to impact Baltimore communities.

“This is the kind of experience that you see documentaries about, but you don’t think will actually happen during your lifetime,” Lilienfeld says.

As the city braces for the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, small business owners are concerned about how directives for limiting exposure to the virus—including “social distancing,” public-school closures, and event cancellations—will hurt their bottom lines and, ultimately, the lifespan of their business. On Friday, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young sent a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan asking him to make federal funds available to Baltimore-based small businesses through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Due to the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation that people avoid crowds or large gatherings as much as possible, Pamela Hubbard, the co-owner of Lobo, says that her Fells Point corner bar has experienced a significant decline in business throughout the past two weeks. While Hubbard says the restaurant staff has always taken sanitation precautions, such as regular hand washing and wearing gloves, she’s worried about how Lobo can financially sustain a weeks or months-long slowdown in table turnover.

“You can prepare for a refrigerator to break or having to pay someone to fix your plumbing, but the cost of a pandemic is not something you have funds set aside for,” Hubbard says.

While Gov. Larry Hogan’s latest statements only cancelled public gatherings of more than 250 people, many business owners, like Daven Ralston of Charm City Books, made the decision to adjust their event schedules for the safety of themselves and their customers.

“We host tons of events each month, so it’s concerning to think about what that will do to sales heading into the spring,” says Ralston, who opened the Pigtown bookstore in November. “It’s a scary precipice to be balancing.”

A number of local shops and service providers have communicated directly with consumers about the additional measures they’re taking to keep their still-open storefronts clean and safe. On Thursday, Letta Moore, the owner of KSM Candle Co., sent out a message to her email subscribers to notify them about temporary changes to her in-house workshops, such as switching from glass stemware to disposable cups.

“If small businesses are explaining to their customers what they’re doing to combat the virus, take heed and have a little trust in them,” Moore says. “We’re boosting our efforts and it’s not cheap for us either, so I hope people consider continuing to go out and supporting the businesses when possible. Don’t give up on us.”

To combat the decrease in foot traffic and loss of revenue associated with in-house events, local purveyors are finding new ways to meet customers where they are. Several retailers, such as Brightside Boutique and Six2Six Society, are offering free or discounted shipping for online orders, while others, like Wishbone Reserve, are posting their merchandise to Instagram so buyers can shop virtually. Ralston says that she and Joseph Carlson, Charm City Books’ programming and outreach director, will deliver books and puzzles via their tandem bicycle to area customers for free.

Chanel Fleurimond, who runs Sobeachy Haitian Cuisine with her husband, Leo, says that while they don’t usually fill many delivery orders from their food stall in Cross Street Market, they plan to ramp up their efforts if business to the communal eatery remains stagnant. Fleurimond says that if people don’t want to risk visiting the Federal Hill food hall, getting Sobeachy’s traditional Haitian dishes delivered to their home is a great way to continue supporting the local venture.

Hubbard adds that purchasing a gift certificate to a local bar, restaurant, or coffee shop to be used at a later date can help boost cash flow to businesses during this slow economic period.

“[Lobo is] turning six years old this summer and we were looking forward to planning our party, and now, so quickly, a wrench got thrown into that,” Hubbard says. “People need to be aware that your favorite places to go or eat in the city are already feeling the impact of this, and will continue to have to make hard decisions about their entire business because of it.”

In light of the extremely uncertain and ever-changing circumstances, members of the small-business community are also leaning on one another, as well as local customers, for support. On Thursday, the event technology service Pixilated and networking community Startup Soiree created an online forum for Baltimore-based business owners and employees to address COVID-19-related concerns, ranging from software tools to minimize the coronavirus’ impact to links to local resources.

“We talk so much about the importance of community to local bookstores, but it really is like a relationship and a family, especially in Pigtown,” Ralston says. “If another business is hurting, we have to reach out and support them in any way we can.”

Earlier this week, the Wishbone Reserve store leaders posted a message to their Instagram followers that led with the phrase, “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” While the English proverb is typically used to describe March weather, Lilienfeld says that, deep down, she wanted the line to send a message of positivity to the shop’s worried customers.

“I don’t want people to be sympathetic; that’s not really what we’re looking for. We want them to know that them coming into [Wishbone Reserve] has been paying all of our bills,” Lilienfeld says. “We want to be truthful with people and say that we’re scared, too.”

[Editor’s note: We will continue to update this space as more information becomes available.]

Following an announcement by Governor Larry Hogan on March 12 that all gatherings of 250 people or more are to be postponed, many of Baltimore’s venues and art spaces have announced cancellations and rescheduled events. Here’s what’s still open, what’s coming later this year, and what to expect from the weeks ahead.

Visual Arts

The JHU Museums have announced that, as of March 16, all locations will be closed and public programs through April 12 are postponed or canceled. The American Visionary Art Museum has closed through March 31, with public programs and tours cancelled through April 12. The previously scheduled Logan Visionary Eco-Conference has been postponed to a later date.

Leadership teams are hoping that the BMA’s 2020 Vision Community Celebration and the opening for Brice Brown’s PROSCENIUM at Evergreen Library and Museum can be rescheduled for later in the year.

The Walters Art Museum and The Baltimore Museum of Art have closed to the public through March 31 and cancelled all events and programming through April 12. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum is also closed to the public, and a reopening date has yet to be released.

Some options remain for viewing museum collections. The Walters’ St. Francis Missal can be viewed in full on the museum’s Ex Libris site along with many other precious manuscripts.

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & Arts announced that all galleries and attractions will be closed starting March 14.

Events related to Maryland Art Place’s Out of Order and Merkin Dream have been postponed, with new dates TBA. Y:Art Gallery has cancelled its March 21 artist talk with Maureen Delaney, Erin Raedeke, and Richard Townsend but will remain open for regular business. Please check with your local galleries for information on postponements and adjusted hours.

Music

Creative Alliance has instituted a new full refund/exchange policy during the month of March and fully canceled the March 21 performance by the Marja Mortensson Trio. The annual Baltimore Old Time Music Festival has been postponed, and the leadership team is currently looking at new weekends, likely in the summer, to hold the event. Tickets will be transferred to the new date once it is confirmed, and refunds will be available at that time for those who do not wish to attend.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and other events scheduled at both the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and The Music Center at Strathmore are cancelled through March 21. BSO president and CEO released the following statement regarding the closure: “Of course, as recent history has shown us, the BSO has navigated challenging times thanks to the collective support and strength of our community. In addition to inviting patrons to exchange into future programs, we are also deeply appreciative to those patrons who would consider donating their tickets to support the BSO at a pivotal time in our transformation.”

The Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric has postponed all events through March 18, and some performances have already begun being rescheduled for this summer.

Horse Lords, Mdou Moctar, Versus, and Joy Postell have postponed their upcoming shows at the Ottobar, though the venue remains open at this time. According to the Ottobar Facebook page, “Our plan is to remain open this weekend in full capacity, and evaluate throughout. We’ll then start the new week studying the news and continue on from there…We will post online and our website any sudden changes that may arise. If you do not feel comfortable attending a show, you have the option to adjust or refund your ticket.”

Rams Head Live! has closed indefinitely in response to the 250+ gathering rule, and will work to reschedule impacted performances. Tickets for performances that are rescheduled will remain valid, and tickets for shows that cannot be rescheduled will be refunded within 30 days of an announcement of cancellation. Baltimore Soundstage and Metro Gallery have also postponed events through late March.

Sound Garden announced today that Record Store Day will be moved to June 20, 2020, affecting all area record stores.

Literature

Enoch Pratt Libraries has closed to the public, and all public programs, including the CityLit Festival, are postponed or cancelled through March 31.

According to a statement from Enoch Pratt CEO Heidi Daniel, the library is expanding programs for those stuck at home, including instituting a digital library card program to offer those without library cards the opportunity to register for instant access to online materials and databases. The Books by Mail program for homebound customers will also be expanding and can be initiated by contacting the library’s circulation department.

Greedy Reads has closed to the public and suspended all events through the month of March at both locations, but patrons can still make purchases via phone/email for pick up or delivery, or through bookshop.org and Libro.fm. Charm City Books announced that all events are cancelled. In addition, all Charm City Books stock will be available for purchase online, and delivery within Baltimore City is available for free. For those outside the city, delivery is still an option at the cost of $5 or less. Events at The Ivy Bookshop and Bird in Hand are cancelled through March 30, and updates will be posted as soon as new dates are scheduled.

Theater

As of March 12, the Hippodrome Theatre has cancelled the upcoming Celtic Woman and The Band’s Visit touring dates and shared the following: “If you are a ticket holder for one of these events, please hold onto your tickets as we work to reschedule their performances in Baltimore. We will be in touch in the next 7-14 days with more information on the status of this event.”

Everyman Theatre has waived ticket exchange fees and upgrade charges for the remainder of the New Voices Festival, and the two remaining shows in the festival, Cry It Out and Berta, Berta, have been postponed to the summer. Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains will be suspended following the March 14 performance and resume on April 15. The theater’s annual gala, originally scheduled for March 14, has also been postponed. Center Stage has postponed the Baltimore Butterfly Session previously scheduled for March 14, but is organizing with local artists to hold a virtual discussion about responses to the current public health crisis within the creative community. More information about this online gathering can be found here.

Charm City Players’ production of Matilda originally scheduled for March 14-29 is postponed, and CCP has encouraged ticket holders to keep their tickets while they work to reschedule show dates. Announcements regarding the status of the show will be communicated over the next two weeks.

Baltimore Improv Group’s managing director Terry Withers announced on Thursday that it would suspend all performances starting March 16 and reevaluate the following week. This includes practices, meetings, and unofficial gatherings at BIG’s theater and training center. Classes will continue but switch to larger venues to enable distance between performers beginning March 16.

Vagabond Players will suspend the remaining performances of Constellations, which were originally scheduled through March 22. The Fells Point company will offer ticket holders refunds or exchanges for future performances.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, which had previously reduced seating capacity to promote social distancing, has suspended The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and March student matinees for Romeo and Juliet after March 15. Those with tickets to this weekend’s shows are asked to make responsible choices about their attendance. Options for ticket holders beyond those dates are outlined here, and the company hopes to continue with Studio classes.

The closing weekend of The Mineola Twins at Fells Point Corner Theatre has been suspended, and plans for the upcoming production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf are to be determined. Tickets for the current production can be exchanged for future performances.

Arena Players is suspended through March 27 and has also reduced seating capacity for its shows effective immediately. Spotlighters Theatre has delayed the opening of its Dogfight until March 26. The Strand remains open with increased sanitation measures.

Film

The SNF Parkway Theatre is closed from March 13-March 26, and the theater will be deep-cleaned before staff and patrons return at the end of the month. The Charles, CinéBistro at The Rotunda, The Landmark Harbor East, and The Senator Theatre will be closing by end of day March 16 in response to the latest announcement by Gov. Hogan.

Through four kids and thirteen years of being a parent, I’ve had my fair share of stitches, strep tests, and broken bones, but I never thought “well visit during a pandemic” would be something I’d check off my “Ways My Kids Are Giving Me Gray Hair” list. (And just a side note for everyone out there: Myself and my pediatrician’s office would never put my kids or any kids in harm’s way.)

For those that don’t know, a well visit is a yearly check-in with our pediatrician where we discuss school and sleep habits, plot their growth on a chart, and administer vaccines as needed. For my own sanity, I schedule my kids on separate days, so everyone can have their own uninterrupted time.

When I made these appointments several months ago, I was more worried about them missing class than COVID-19. Last week, when I brought my 13-year-old in for his appointment (March 5), it was business as usual. We were still having soccer practice, playdates, and normal grocery store runs. We chatted about middle school, summer plans, and the fact that now, at age 13, I was asked kindly by my son to wait in the hall during his exam.

Fast-forward one week. My 9-year-old twins had their appointment yesterday morning (March 12). As we rolled up, I noticed a medical professional standing outside the door to the office. We were asked the reason for our visit (sick or well) and whether we had been in contact with anyone with COVID-19 or traveled out of the country recently. Once we answered all the questions (well, no, no), we were allowed into the building. And just as an added safety message, there was a note taped at the other end of the building that said, “If you think you may have been exposed to COVID-19, do not enter. Return to your car and call us.”

Again the appointment was normal. Two crazy boys acting silly while answering questions about their eating habits and friends, and fits of laughter during the exam. “I think schools are going to close soon,” I said to my doctor. She agreed. (A few hours later, Governor Hogan would indeed announce school closure from March 16th-27th.) She said not to be worried and just reminded the boys about the importance of hand washing.

And then, just this morning, I returned with my 11-year-old. This time the door was locked. An employee unlocked it when she saw us and asked the same questions: the reason for our visit and whether we had been in contact with anyone with COVID-19 or traveled out of the country recently. We entered into an eerily quiet waiting room and went to check in with our doctor. (The normal weekday walk-ins for simple stuff such as strep or pink eye had been indefinitely suspended, which was probably why it was so empty.)

There are always non-stop phone calls at a pediatrician’s office as parents call to inquire whether they should bring their child in for a fever or cough or runny nose, but today seemed like a dramatic increase. It sounded like a lot of worried parents being comforted. But I also heard phrases like “We’re taking our cue from the CDC recommendations.” And while our pediatrician is calming and professional—we’ve been seeing her for more than a decade, and selecting her as our doctor was one of the best parenting decisions I ever made—I definitely felt a shift in the office. Like knowing there is a tidal wave coming and your only course of action is telling people “try not to drown.”

Our appointment was great. We talked puberty (ack!) and school activities, the pollen count, and what a lovely lady my preteen is becoming. But I also inquired about outside activities during these two weeks of social distancing and visiting grandparents and staying busy. (She said, without hesitation, yes to hikes and running around. No to playground equipment.) When the medical assistant came back with my daughter’s three shots, she apologized for the wait. “We had another meeting.” That is no problem, I assured her, knowing how crazy it must be to fluctuate between frontline Coronavirus updates and administering a standard HPV vaccine. She applied the last Band-Aid to Willa’s arm, smiled, and wished us well as she slipped out of the room.

Amid the outbreak of the coronavirus, several small businesses battle with the prospect of having to close. After several closings and social separation measures were announced across the U.S. earlier this week, vintage home store Wishbone Reserve in Hampden posted an announcement online that it would remain open and increase sanitary precautions. This spurred reactions from boutique owners around Baltimore.

Brightside Boutique has since echoed a similar sentiment, vowing to remain open and keep events scheduled as planned, “We will be closely monitoring government updates and guidelines, and will keep customers informed. We hope, if you are healthy and able to do so, that you continue to join us for the upcoming events, shop, and support small businesses,” reads an online post.

While some stores have shut down their brick-and-mortar doors, others remain open, and many have provided avenues to shop virtually. Here is a roundup of boutiques that have formally announced their opening status so far:

OPEN IN-STORE AND ONLINE:

• Brightside Boutique *Offering 15-percent-off and free shipping.
• Match Made Stores *Open by appointment only and offering 15-percent-off online purchases using code: spring15.
• Plantacea *Only two customers allowed in shop at a time, offering curbside delivery.
• 2910 on the Square *Reduced hours Tuesday-Friday 12pm-6pm, Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4pm as well as offering delivery.

ONLINE ONLY:

• A Style Studio *Offering free shipping on all orders.
• Arrow Clothing *Continuing their online-only operations as usual.
• B.Willow *Options for pickup or local delivery within 20 mins of the shop and waived $15 delivery fee.
• Becket Hitch *Offering online shopping and in-store private appointments.
• Best Day Ever
• Bottle of Bread
• Boutique W
• The Codex Club *Offering free shipping.
• Domesticity *Offering curbside pick-up and same-day delivery.
• Doubledutch Boutique *Offering 20-percent-off sale items and free shipping or curbside pick-up for online sales. In-store private appointments are available.
• Found Studio Shop
• Get Shredded Vintage
• Hunting Ground
• Ma Petite Shoe
• Milagro *Offering free shipping.
• Milk and Ice Vintage
• Mint & Major *Offering 20-percent-off online using code: MAJOR20, free shipping on orders over $25, curbside pick-up and drop-offs.
• Poppy & Stella
• Raina Dawn *Offering curbside pick-up and in-store private appointments.
• Six2Six Society
• South Moon Under
• Wishbone Reserve

OPEN IN-STORE ONLY:

• Amaryllis
• Forward Moda
• Keeper’s Vintage
• Matava Shoes
• Panache *Reduced hours 10am-4pm with in-store private appointments, curbside pickup, and free delivery available.
• Pandora’s Box
• Wee Chic *Reduced hours 10am-4pm.

CLOSED:

• In Watermelon Sugar *Offering in-store private appointments or curbside pick-up.
• Ruth Shaw
• Sassanova *Offering in-store private appointments, drop-offs, curbside pick-up, and free shipping.
• Shops at Kenilworth
• Tortuga

University of Maryland sophomore Jalen Smith, the 19-year-old former Mount St. Joseph’s star, typed out a message yesterday in an attempt to process the shocking news he’d just learned.

March Madness, the whole thing, cancelled.

It is, and the feeling applies to a lot of us at this point.

As novel coronavirus fears and prevention measures sweep the country, the NCAA—the national governing body of college athletics—made the unprecedented move on Thursday to cancel the 68-team men’s basketball tournament as part of a decision to end competitions in all spring sports.

It’s the first time in the 80-year history of the bracket-busting tournament that it won’t be played—and the news came quick. On Wednesday, it was announced March Madness games would be played without fans, which was weird enough to think about.

A day later, hundreds of thousands of college kids like Smith were digesting a sudden end to their seasons, and their entire playing careers, in some cases, like Terps senior captain Anthony Cowan, Jr. And Smith, too. He might test the NBA waters and enter the draft.

Business as usual in the U.S. is suspended for the time being. Many government officials have taken measures to limit public gatherings in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19—for which there’s no vaccine and specifically impacts those over the age of 60 and those with underlying medical conditions.

That goes for events like weddings, court trials, conferences, and schools. After the Big Ten conference cancelled the rest of its spring seasons earlier on Thursday, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon released a statement saying that “the health and safety of our student athletes and entire program is paramount. This is an unprecedented situation that is much bigger than basketball.”

It sure is. In the local sports world alone, Orioles opening day, as directed by Major League Baseball, has been pushed back for at least two weeks. Spring training games in Florida have been cancelled, though the team will still practice and continue precautions they began last week.

And the postseason hopes of teams from colleges like Maryland, Loyola, Johns Hopkins, Towson and many others are now over before players even took the field. Same goes in the ranks of public schools throughout the state, which will be closed for at least the next two weeks.

Mancini has tumor removed; Awaits test results

Meanwhile, all the coronavirus news has overshadowed another big piece of news with the Orioles this week.

Trey Mancini, the team’s most established figure and a fan-favorite, had surgery yesterday to remove a malignant tumor from his colon. He expects lab results back next week, and there’s no timetable for a recovery yet. He left the team last week after a colonoscopy revealed the tumor.

Mancini, 27, shared his thanks with everyone who sent messages and notes of encouragement. “The outpouring of love and support I have received has made an extremely tough week so much better,” he said. “I have the best family, friends, fans, and teammates imaginable.”

Yanda retires from the Ravens

Finally, longtime Ravens offensive lineman and potential future Hall-of-Famer Marshal Yanda formally announced his retirement—and look, his buddy Joe Flacco returned to Owings Mills for the press conference at the Ravens practice facility…

The Ravens have already announced that Yanda will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor at M&T Bank Stadium. Until then, we’ll remember the scene of the grizzled, sweaty, and frustrated 13-year-pro in the Ravens’ locker room after their shocking early playoff exit against the Tennessee Titans in January. That showed the type of person he is.

Yanda was adamant at calling out Titans rookie defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons for allegedly spitting in Yanda’s face during the game. “I just want to put him on notice in the media,” Yanda said. “I’ve never done this in my career, but I just wanted to let you know there’s a right way and a wrong way to play football, and that guy did not do it the right way today.”

Turns out the notice was a parting gift.

This afternoon, one week after Maryland’s first confirmed case of coronavirus, Governor Hogan issued a series of new directives, including that all Maryland public schools would close effective March 16 through March 27.

The two-week closure, which will affect approximately 1 million students, comes after news of the state’s first confirmed case via community transmission, meaning exposure unrelated to travel or known contact with an infected person. Yesterday, the coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak was also declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

“We are entering a new phase of this crisis in our state,” Hogan said. “We should expect the number of cases to dramatically and rapidly rise. Our primary focus is now turning from containment to aggressively working to mitigate and limit the spread of the virus.”

Maryland and Ohio are the first states to close all K-12 public schools. During the closure, all school buildings and buses will be cleaned.

Local officials are also working to develop a plan for providing meals to children in need. At last count, more than 100,000 Baltimore City and County students were enrolled in free or reduced-price meal programs.

Earlier this week, numerous Maryland colleges, including Towson, Morgan State, Johns Hopkins, Loyola, and Notre Dame of Maryland universities, canceled classes for the rest of the week. Following next week’s spring break, most plan to resume through online courses through at least early April. Other statewide programming and events have also been cancelled at the likes of libraries and museums.

In addition to school closures, Hogan announced the closure of senior activity centers and the cancellation of large gatherings of more than 250 people. Hospitals will now implement limited visitor policies, while state prisons are to suspend all visits.

He also activated the National Guard to a higher state of readiness and closed the cruise ship terminal at the Port of Baltimore. Nonessential state employees have been ordered to telework if possible, and public access has been restricted at state buildings, including the State House, until further notice.

“[These actions] may sound extreme and they may sound frightening, but they could be the difference in saving lives and helping keep people safe,” said Hogan, also urging daily life to carry on and essential businesses like grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants to remain open.

Currently 12 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Maryland, including the first in Baltimore County. Until today, all local cases have been linked to travel, with patients in Montgomery, Harford, Prince George’s, and Anne Arundel counties, with the majority including patients between their 50 and 80s. Two patients continue to be hospitalized, while three have fully recovered.

Symptoms range from mild, such as cough and fever, to severe, such as pneumonia, with older adults and people with existing health problems at higher risk of serious illness. According to the Maryland Department of Health, people who think they’re infected should call their doctor or local emergency room.