Maryland Commerce res March 5
March 12
• State of emergency declared
• MEMA full alert, schools close,
“ With this declaration, I am officially authorizing and directing the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to ramp up coordination among all state and local agencies and enable them to fast-track coordination with our state and local health departments and emergency management teams.”
mandatory teleworking for all nonessential state workers begins March 13
March 18 Maryland Commerce creates new webpage — Maryland Business Express Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information for Businesses
March 19
• Maryland receives official SBA designation for Economic Injury Loans program These low-interest SBA loans help alleviate financial strain and allow businesses to pay bills, payroll, and accounts payable, with long-term payments stretching up to 30 years.
Gov. Larry Hogan
Maryland’s swift response to COVID-19 provided a critical and unified
Commerce workforce adapts Maryland Commerce rapidly transitioned nearly 100% of its workforce to telework and adopted an all-hands-ondeck attitude to answer the call for assistance outside of the team’s normal job descriptions. Immediately, local, national, and global events were hard hit, with many being canceled and others going virtual. Travel of all kinds came to a halt. At the same time, effective and real-time communication about COVID-19, within the agency and beyond, was of paramount importance. Commerce maintained internal communication at all levels through daily conference calls, Google Hangouts, WebEx, emails, and one-on-one calls. The agency also established a central resource for communicating with Maryland’s business community. Commerce, with the assistance of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and the Maryland Department of Labor, created a page on the Business Express website that was
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updated constantly to provide businesses with thorough, real-time information (https://govstatus.egov.com/mdcoronavirus-business). Commerce supports the Maryland Emergency Management Agency Response From March until June, as part of the state response to COVID-19, numerous Commerce staff members were deployed to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Joint Information Center (JIC), and the Business Emergency Operations Center (BEOC). Staff from throughout the agency, with coordination from Commerce’s Director of Administration and Technology, provided a multitude of skills and talents to assist with operations in all areas of expertise. Services provided by Commerce staff: • Participated in daily COVID statewide coordination calls with MEMA • Responded to coronavirus-related inquiries from businesses sent to BEOC
