Author: Office of

Governor Larry Hogan today officially reopened the Laurel Medical Center in Prince George’s County as part of the state’s COVID-19 hospital surge plan, and announced an expansive contract tracing initiative that will be able to track up to 1,000 cases per day. With significant progress on the four building blocks that are necessary to begin the recovery process for the State of Maryland, Governor Hogan will introduce the ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery’ on Friday.

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COVID-19 Update – April 22, 2020

“Our entire team has been working hard and making incredible progress on all four of these necessary building blocks so that, as our numbers start to look better, we will be in a position to safely reopen our state and get people back to work,” said Governor Hogan. “With these crucial components now firmly in place, on Friday we will be introducing our ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery,’ which will lead us safely out of this pandemic and into a brighter more hopeful future.”

The governor was joined for today’s announcement by Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Dr. Mohan Suntha, the president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

From the Office of Governor Larry Hogan

For immediate release:

April 22, 2020

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Contact:

Shareese Churchill

410-974-2316

Governor Hogan Announces Significant Progress on Building Blocks for Recovery Plan; Will Introduce ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery’ on Friday

Reopens Laurel Hospital to Add 135 Beds for COVID-19 Patients

Launches Expanded Contact Tracing Operation: Authorizes Contract to Quadruple Tracing Force to 1,000, Innovative ‘COVID Link’ Tracing Platform

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today officially reopened the Laurel Medical Center in Prince George’s County as part of the state’s COVID-19 hospital surge plan, and announced an expansive contract tracing initiative that will be able to track up to 1,000 cases per day. With significant progress on the four building blocks that are necessary to begin the recovery process for the State of Maryland, Governor Hogan will introduce the ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery’ on Friday.

“Our entire team has been working hard and making incredible progress on all four of these necessary building blocks so that, as our numbers start to look better, we will be in a position to safely reopen our state and get people back to work,” said Governor Hogan. “With these crucial components now firmly in place, on Friday we will be introducing our ‘Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery,’ which will lead us safely out of this pandemic and into a brighter more hopeful future.”

The governor was joined for today’s announcement by Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Dr. Mohan Suntha, the president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

Below are Governor Hogan’s announcements regarding the four building blocks for Maryland’s recovery plan:

EXPANDING TESTING CAPACITY. The most critical part of Maryland’s recovery plan and the reopening guidelines recently released by the White House is the capability to do widespread testing. Successful testing advancements in Maryland include.

The State of Maryland has successfully expanded its testing capability by over 5,000% in the past month, and more than 76,000 COVID-19 tests have been completed to date.

The Maryland National Guard, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, and the Prince George’s County Health Department, established the state’s first coronavirus drive-thru screening location at FedEx Field in Landover.

Drive-thru screening and testing location has been established at five Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program (VEIP) stations across the state.

The State of Maryland recently secured 40,000 additional tests and invested $2.5 million to assist the lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore to use cutting-edge robotics to build their capacity in order to handle up to 20,000 tests per day.

On Saturday, April 19, through the success of ‘Operation Enduring Friendship,’ the State of Maryland received LabGun COVID-19 PCR test kits from LabGenomics, a South Korean company, which will give Maryland the capability of performing 500,000 coronavirus tests.

On Monday, April 20, President Trump offered to allow the State of Maryland to access the countless federal labs in the state, which could be key to utilizing the 500,000 tests from South Korea.

INCREASING HOSPITAL SURGE CAPACITY. On March 16, Governor Hogan issued an executive order directing the Maryland Department of Health to develop a plan to open closed hospital facilities across the state, and to take other measures necessary to immediately increase the state’s hospital capacity by an additional 6,000 beds. Currently, the state is on track to exceed that goal and reach a surge capacity of more than 6,700 beds. The latest progress on hospital surge capacity includes the following:

The newly reopened and renovated Laurel Medical Center will now provide an additional 135 beds, including 35 intensive care beds, to treat patients infected with COVID-19. The facility is being staffed by nearly 400 contractual medical professionals and health care workers who will be managed by UMMS.

The 250-bed field hospital at the Baltimore Convention Center is now open and will be admitting those patients who no longer require hospitalization, but need a location to complete their care and fully recover.

The first beds have been opened at Adventist Ft. Washington Medical Center in Prince George’s County, near the location of the highest concentration of COVID-19 cases.

Additional intensive care beds are also being added to the UM Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly, Md.

22 surge response tents are being built across the state in the areas of greatest need, including at Holy Cross Hospital, Washington Adventist White Oak, Doctors Community Hospital, and Southern Maryland Hospital Center.

100 additional beds are being provided at Jessup and Hagerstown to address the needs of corrections and detention centers.

INCREASED SUPPLY OF PPE. In Maryland, a multi-agency task force has been working around the clock to ramp up our supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), with large deliveries coming into the state’s warehouses on a daily basis. Recent shipments received by the state include the following:

5.9 million surgical masks, including 1 million masks from the Republic of Korea

1.5 million KN95 masks, including 1 million from the Republic of Korea

705,000 N95 masks

2.3 million surgical gowns

1,000 additional ICU beds

1.1 million face shields

ROBUST CONTACT TRACING OPERATION. Governor Hogan announced an expanded contact tracing initiative with a state-of-the-art platform to track positive cases of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus over the long term.

This morning, Governor Hogan authorized a contract with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), which is the nation’s oldest and largest university-based research firm operated by the University of Chicago with corporate offices in Bethesda, Md. Under this agreement, Maryland will quadruple the state’s present disease investigation capability to contact up to 1,000 new cases per day.

Governor Hogan also announced a state-of-the-art contact tracing platform called ‘COVID Link,’ which will assist in collecting information about people who test positive for COVID-19 and any individuals they have come into close contact with. This innovative platform will utilize medical data from the Chesapeake Regional Information Center for Patients, or CRISP. Maryland’s 1,000 contact tracers will be trained on this new technology to make sure all information is collected in accordance with all regulations and guidelines for the security and privacy of medical data. ‘COVID Link’ was developed in consultation with the State of Rhode Island and the City of Austin, TX.

All of Governor Hogan’s emergency orders and proclamations are available here. For COVID-19 resources, including case counts and clinician guidance, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov.

Today, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young signed an executive order instituting a new policy regarding wearing facial coverings. The Mayor advises all residents of Baltimore City to wear cloth masks or other facial coverings, as defined by the CDC, when out in the community and especially when social distancing measures are not possible.

“This executive order is an effort to protect the most vulnerable among us,” said Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. “This is a public health crisis and we must respond in kind. This new policy is another mitigation strategy to help continue to flatten the curve in Baltimore City. I ask that all residents take this policy seriously and comply for the health and well-being of their families and themselves.”

Today’s executive order also advises residents to wear facial coverings when visiting essential businesses and, when interacting with delivery personnel from essential businesses. The order further directs public and private employers to develop internal policies regarding face coverings that promote the health and safety of their employees in the workplace.

“This aligns with the CDC’s guidance for using face coverings to help slow the transmission of this virus, and I support Mayor Young’s decision to issue this order for Baltimore City,” said Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Health Commissioner for Baltimore City.

This new policy will remain in effect until the Governor terminates the state of emergency or Mayor Young rescinds the Stay at Home Order.

Governor Larry Hogan today toured the state’s field hospital site at the Baltimore Convention Center, where he announced additional actions to slow the spread of COVID-19. Actions the governor announced yesterday in Baltimore City include:

New strike teams to help nursing home facilities in need of additional support

A new executive order empowering local health departments to shut down any business, establishment, or construction site it deems unsafe

The release of additional demographic breakdowns of Maryland case data, including hospitalization rates and mortality

The governor also announced that the White House and federal officials have now designated the Baltimore-Washington corridor as an emerging hotspot.

“This virus continues to spread in every single jurisdiction in the state, but the concentration of Maryland cases has rapidly intensified particularly in the Baltimore-Washington corridor,” said Governor Hogan. “Over the past two weeks I have been sounding the alarm with the president, the vice president, members of the president’s task force, and other top administration officials, and I’m pleased to report that we have succeeded in convincing the Trump administration to designate the greater Baltimore-Washington corridor as a priority.”

Below is a comprehensive list of actions and updates the governor announced today:

STRIKE TEAMS FOR NURSING HOMES: Governor Hogan announced the formation of statewide strike teams, the first such effort in the nation, to provide support to nursing home facilities. The teams will be composed of members of the National Guard, representatives of local and state health departments, and EMS clinicians, as well as doctors and nurses from local hospital systems. These strike teams will be activated in response to requests from nursing homes, local health departments, and Maryland Department of Health (MDH) infectious disease experts. There will be three types of teams:

Testing teams, to identify those in close contact with a confirmed case, and collect and send out specimens for the fastest test available.

Assistance teams, to quickly assess the situation on-site, determine equipment and supply needs, and triage residents.

Clinical teams, which will include doctors, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses from major hospital systems, tasked with providing on-site medical triage and stabilizing residents.

SHUTTING DOWN UNSAFE FACILITIES: Governor Hogan has issued a new executive order empowering local health departments to take action against any businesses, establishments, and construction sites they deem unsafe. The local health department, working with local law enforcement, can modify operations, limit movements to and from the facilities, or shut them down altogether. Read the governor’s order.

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON CORRIDOR: After weeks of pressing for action, Governor Hogan announced that top federal officials have agreed to designate the greater Baltimore-Washington corridor as a priority and emerging hotspot. This includes Baltimore City and Baltimore County, as well as Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Queen Anne’s counties.

RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC DATA: Governor Hogan has directed MDH—through the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities—to immediately take all actions necessary in order to provide further demographic breakdowns on race and ethnicity for all case data, including hospitalization rates and mortality. This week, MDH’s coronavirus resource page, coronavirus.maryland.gov, will begin displaying available data on racial and ethnic breakdown of COVID-19 cases, with updates as new data becomes available.

BALTIMORE CITY EFFORTS: Governor Hogan announced that the state will continue to support Baltimore City’s efforts to fight COVID-19, including the field hospital site, where COVID-19 patients who no longer require hospitalization will be able to complete their care and fully recover. The state will continue to provide support to the Baltimore Police Department as needed, and help stand up the community-based screening site at the Pimlico race course.

HOSPITAL SURGE UPDATE: Governor Hogan provided an update on the state’s hospital surge plan, announcing that the state has—on an emergency basis—approved 27 newly licensed assisting living programs, 42 residential sites for individuals with developmental disabilities, six newly licensed residential service agencies to provide home-based services, and 14 newly licensed clinical laboratories.

MARYLAND UNITES: Governor Hogan also encouraged Marylanders to donate and volunteer through the Maryland Unites initiative, saying, “While social distancing keeps us physically isolated from one another, there are so many examples of how in many ways this crisis is bringing Marylanders closer together with compassion and generosity.” Thousands of Marylanders have already answered the governor’s calls to action by registering for the Maryland Responds Reserve Medical Corps, making appointments to give blood, and donating to the Maryland Food Bank and other critical organizations.

All of Governor Hogan’s emergency orders and proclamations are available here. For COVID-19 resources, including case counts and clinician guidance, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov.

Governor Larry Hogan today enacted an emergency order to protect residents and staff at Maryland nursing home facilities, and bolster the state’s mitigation and suppression efforts amid outbreaks of COVID-19. Effective immediately, new directives will require facilities to direct all staff who interact with residents to wear personal protective equipment, create separate observation and isolation areas for residents, and expedite all testing through the Maryland State Public Health Laboratory.

“As we have been saying for several weeks, older Marylanders and those with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable and at a significantly higher risk of contracting, getting more severely ill, and dying from this disease,” said Governor Hogan. “Of major concern is that we currently have cases or clusters of cases at 81 nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the state. Our highest priority is keeping Marylanders safe, and we will use every tool at our disposal to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

On March 10, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) issued strong guidance to long-term and continuing care facilities to restrict visitation and begin implementing infection control protocols. Today’s directives requires nursing home facilities to adjust and strengthen their policies, protocols, and procedures in line with all state and federal guidance related to COVID-19, and immediately adopt a series of enhanced protective measures:

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR STAFF. All personnel who are in close contact with residents of nursing homes shall wear personal protective equipment (PPE), including a face mask, appropriate eye protection, gloves, and gown. The PPE should be worn at all times while providing care to residents in the facility and personnel should follow CDC guidance for using personal protective equipment. Facilities must use the process established by MDH to request PPE from the state.

EXPEDITED TESTING FOR SYMPTOMATIC RESIDENTS. All facilities must use the most expeditious means available for testing. This includes using either a COVID-19 test kit provided by the state laboratory or another lab to send specimens to the state laboratory for expedited COVID-19 testing of residents and staff. Symptomatic residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities are among the patient groups prioritized by the state laboratory, alongside hospitalized patients and symptomatic health care providers and first responders.

SEPARATE OBSERVATION AREAS. All facilities must designate a unit of staff who are assigned to care for known or suspected COVID-19 residents; designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home as a separate observation area where newly admitted and readmitted residents are kept for 14 days on contact and droplet precautions while being observed every shift for signs and symptoms of COVID-19; and designate a room, unit, or floor of the nursing home to care for residents with known or suspected COVID-19.

PLACEMENT OF DISCHARGED PATIENTS. MDH’s Office of Health Care Quality will assist acute care hospitals, if necessary, in discharging patients who require nursing-home level care. Facilities must cooperate with the Office of Health Care Quality and hospitals in the placement of discharged patients.

RIGHT OF RETURN FOR RESIDENTS. Nursing home residents admitted or seen at a hospital for COVID-19 must be allowed to return to the nursing home as long as the facility can follow the approved CDC recommendations for transmission-based precautions. If the residents must temporarily go to other facilities, every effort must be made by the receiving and original nursing homes to transfer the residents back to their original nursing homes as soon as possible.

Read Governor Hogan’s emergency order.

Read the Maryland Department of Health’s directives to nursing home facilities.

Governor Hogan’s order makes compliance with these directives mandatory. Anyone who knowingly and willfully violates this order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding $5,000—or both.

All of Governor Hogan’s emergency orders and proclamations are available here. For COVID-19 resources, including case counts and clinician guidance, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov.

Governor Larry Hogan today announced the Bay Bridge westbound right lane deck rehabilitation is 100% complete and open to all motorists. The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) delivered on the governor’s directive to expedite the project—once slated to last up to two years—and reopen the right lane of the westbound Bay Bridge as soon as possible. All new concrete has been poured and cured, work zone barriers have been removed, restriping is finished, and the lane reopened to all traffic this morning.

The completion comes more than a full year ahead of schedule. It also has been accomplished amid the state’s response to COVID-19. During Maryland’s state of emergency, MDTA and its contractors have worked hard to deliver this critical project, leveraging the lower than normal traffic volumes while adhering to state and federal health and safety guidelines.

“Maryland is facing significant challenges these days, and of course our primary focus is on the health and safety of our citizens amid the ongoing COVID-19 threat,” said Governor Hogan. “But it’s important to celebrate the reopening of the westbound right lane of the Bay Bridge, because for me it represents the spirit, dedication and work ethic that will see our state through any crisis.”

“This project was envisioned as taking two construction seasons to complete. But our dedicated employees and contractors, working to serve their neighbors and all those who use this bridge, have completed it in just over seven months – record time by any measure,” Governor Hogan added. “The men and women who have accomplished this task inspire me, and will forever have my appreciation. They give all of us confidence that Maryland can and will emerge from any challenge faster and stronger than anyone can imagine.”

In September 2019, the westbound right lane of the Bay Bridge was closed. The bridge deck in this lane had reached the end of its service life and was severely deteriorated, presenting a safety risk. In one section, 75% of the lane was patched and deteriorated. Delaying this critical work would have resulted in a lengthier, costlier and more extensive project.

“We thank our motorists, communities and local and state elected officials for their support and cooperation throughout this project,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary and MDTA Chairman Gregory Slater. “I’d like to thank the men and women of MDOT and our contractors for rising to the challenge on a complex effort and in a challenging time. This will be one less thing for Marylanders to be concerned about as we rise out of our health crisis.”

Some Overnight/Off-Peak Work Remains; Minimal Traffic Impact

While the right lane is now reopened, some remaining work will occur on the westbound span center and left lanes during overnight/off-peak hours, including deck sealing, steel railing replacement and deck/joint repairs and replacements. Minimal traffic delays are expected. Motorists should expect some periods when steel plates will be placed in the center and left lanes.

Remaining work also includes replacing overhead signal gantries on the westbound span. Outages of individual signal gantries will be required during replacements. Drivers should continue to obey all signing and active signal gantries.

The MDTA also is leveraging the currently reduced traffic volumes to expedite installation of an automated gate system along westbound US 50 on the Eastern Shore that will allow maintenance crews to implement and discontinue two-way traffic operations at the bridge more safely and quickly. Drivers should expect single-lane closures on or approaching the Bay Bridge during daytime, off-peak hours as needed for this work, other ongoing projects, regular maintenance and facility inspections.

Bay Bridge All Electronic Tolling on Schedule

“In addition to answering Governor Hogan’s call to reopen the westbound right lane, the MDTA remains on schedule to begin all-electronic tolling at the Bay Bridge by summer 2020,” said MDTA Executive Director James F. Ports, Jr. “We are nearly 70% complete in reaching this goal.”

Crews have installed a new overhead tolling gantry across eastbound US 50 on the Eastern Shore between the bridge and MD 8. Work is underway to install and test the tolling system components.

Once all-electronic tolling is in place, cash will not be accepted as payment at the time of travel. Drivers won’t have to stop to pay tolls, as the overhead gantry will collect tolls electronically by E-ZPass® or Video Tolling.

This morning, Governor Hogan joined Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace to discuss Maryland’s aggressive measures to combat COVID-19.

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Governor Larry Hogan Discusses Coronavirus Updates with Chris Wallace

Excerpts:

“Look, I think the virus is going to dictate the time frame, and we’re going to follow the advice of the scientists and doctors, like Dr. Inglesby, who you just had on a moment ago, he’s on our task force. But no, we don’t see any way that we’re going to be opening back up in a couple of weeks. The Washington Metropolitan area, [which] has Maryland, DC, and Virginia, quadrupled in the past week and we see that continuing to grow exponentially, and we think in two weeks, around Easter, we’re going to be looking a lot more like New York.”

“The messaging isn’t helpful because as we’re, as the governors out there on the front lines are trying to get people to stay in their homes for everything but very essential things like going out to get food or prescriptions or things that are basic needs for them to survive and then we’ve got messaging coming out saying that things are okay and you should get back to normal, it does conflict and it hurts with the messaging. But look, I think the president is just trying to be helpful, which is good. We don’t want people to be scared, but we do want them to take it seriously and we want the facts to be out there, so we’re going to follow the doctors and the scientists. I think most governors are going to do what they think is right in their own states to save lives.”

“We do appreciate the efforts of the federal government, and I hate to just point fingers and talk about what hasn’t been done or what didn’t get done. We’re all in this together and it’s going to take the federal, state, and locals working together to save lives. But there’s also frustration out there just that we’re all in the situation that we’re in, and the federal government is unable to solve some of these issues, and that the states are also not able to. So there’s frustration out there, but I think we should do less arguing, more working together.”

State officials tonight, in coordination with the Carroll County Health Department, announced an outbreak of COVID-19 at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mount Airy, where a total of 66 residents have tested positive, with 11 currently hospitalized.

Earlier this evening, the Maryland Department of Health announced five additional deaths as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the state’s total to 10 deaths.

Governor Larry Hogan issued the following update to Marylanders:

“It took nearly three weeks for the National Capital Region to go from 0 to 1,000 cases of COVID-19. It took three days for the region to go from 1,000 to 2,000 cases in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. This is a rapidly evolving and escalating emergency which is now surrounding the nation’s capital.

“The number of deaths in our state as a result of COVID-19 has doubled. We have lost 10 of our fellow Marylanders, and we mourn each and every one of them.

“Tonight, Maryland has experienced a tragic coronavirus outbreak at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mount Airy. Multiple state agencies are on the scene and working closely with the local health department and the facility as they take urgent steps to protect additional residents and staff who may have been exposed.

“I want to thank all of the doctors, nurses, and first responders all across our state who are working around the clock to respond to this pandemic.

“As we have been warning for weeks, older Marylanders and those with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable and at a significantly higher risk of contracting this disease.

“We continue to call for Marylanders to stay at home, except for essential reasons, in order to help stop the spread of this virus.

“We are leveraging the full arsenal of public health and government, but defeating this invisible enemy will require a unity of effort and spirit like nothing we have ever faced.”

Today, Governor Larry Hogan joined former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on WABC talk radio to discuss governors’ roles on the front lines of the COVID-10 pandemic.

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Governor Larry Hogan Speaks With Chris Christie on Maryland’s Coronavirus Response

“The governors are really on the front line of this crisis, and you, Governor, know exactly what that’s like having been a great leader and a governor yourself, and you know you’ve talked to a lot of your former colleagues across the country. We’re all in this together. We’re all fighting this very tough battle—nothing like any of us have ever seen before.”

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“When we had the violence and the riots break out in Baltimore City, you were one of the first ones to call me. And I’ll never forget the advice he gave me after your experience with fighting the hurricane, the damage from hurricane: you said not only do you have to go out and do all the things and be the general making all of the decisions, but you’ve got to be the Consoler in Chief, and you’ve got to be out there, be honest with people, and talk with them and be out there, and I’ve been trying my best to listen to that good advice from you. This is almost like we have a hurricane but it’s hitting every single state in the country at the same time, and it’s been hitting now for 21 straight days, at least in our state.”

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“We were the first state or the second state to shut down all the schools, we were one of the first ones to shut down all the bars and restaurants, and then we shut down all non-essential businesses. And it’s a very difficult thing to do, because we don’t hurt all these folks economically. So many people are not working, we’re hurting small businesses. But we believe that some of these steps that we’re taking, while they’re disrupting people’s lives and they’re causing tremendous fear and anxiety, we believe that it’s going to save hundreds of thousands of people from getting the infection and save the lives of thousands of people.”

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“I’m not really a partisan guy. I don’t care much about Republican-Democrat stuff, I’m all about bipartisan, common sense solutions. And if there was ever a time in America for us to put aside the bitter partisanship, it’s now. We have to work together to save people’s lives. I’ve been doing my best to keep driving that message. This is not a time for divisiveness. This is a time for all of us at the federal, state, and local level to work together. We’ve got to be honest with the people, we’ve got to try to come up with solutions.”

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“Well, they’ve been reacting really well. First of all, they’re listening. They’re following the directives. It’s difficult, but they understand that we’re all in this together. We got to take these steps… One of the things I’ve been trying to do the whole time I’ve been governor is just be as transparent and open and communicate as much as I can with the citizens. And during the crisis, I mean, I can’t tell you—it seems like every single day we’re out there holding press conferences and talking to as many people, because I think getting the message out is a big part of this. You know, people have to be educated. They have to know what’s going on and they’re searching for someone to tell them the truth about what’s going on. I’ve been trying my best to effectively communicate and to one, let people know how serious it is and how they’re all a part of it, that the actions they take are going to help us bend this curve and keep people safe and save lives, but also to try to reassure them, as you said, to be the ‘Consoler-in-Chief’ that, hey, we’re going to get through this together. It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be tougher than most people imagine. It’s going to last longer than most people are saying, but if we all pull together that we’re going to come out of this thing together.”