The @MoCoCouncilMD will vote on @MontCoExec's restaurant shutdown order today. If they care about facts and science, they'll vote no. A few points:

Hospital utilization is low according to the county's own metrics.

And COVID hospital census appears to have peaked a week ago.

That the infective peak has passed is supported by the % positive trends in the county, state, and region.

Contact tracing studies now consistently show spread is overwhelmingly in private homes and negligible in restaurants.

Any effect of pushing holiday gatherings out of (strictly distanced) restaurants and into homes is more likely to increase than decrease transmission.

Meanwhile, more than half of the county's all-time COVID deaths are in nursing homes, where the case fatality rate is more than 12 times higher than in the general population.

Want to save lives? Focus on vaxing the nursing home residents and similar vulnerable seniors.

The Marc Elgrinch restaurant shutdown order comes post-peak (to claim an undeserved policy victory) and is more likely to do harm than good. Vote no @MoCoCouncilMD.

They approved it unanimously.

Fact-free zone, embarrassing. Models over reality, still. Definition of insanity. Pathetic. Idiotic.

Hope somebody sues.