New coronavirus case in Montgomery County as retail traffic falls over virus fears

Rockville students exposed

to covid-19, boosting calls

for MCPS to close schools;

MoCo spooked by mysterious

haze in the sky Sunday

Foot traffic at Montgomery County retail centers has fallen significantly since the jurisdiction's first coronavirus cases were announced late last week. Even before a fourth MoCo covid-19 case was confirmed Sunday by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a spot check of malls and retail properties across the county found lower numbers of shoppers out and about.

Google's live foot traffic measurement
confirmed anecdotal observations of
smaller crowds at MoCo retail centers
since coronavirus panic began

Anecdotal observations of smaller crowds were confirmed using Google's live measurement of foot traffic Sunday. Google's stats (live numbers indicated by red bar) showed foot traffic notably below average at Westfield Montgomery Mall, Bethesda Row, Ellsworth Place, Milestone Shopping Center and Rio Lakefront, to name just a few. The numbers were down even as the area experienced good weather and a temperature over 60 degrees.

Montgomery Mall was "not too busy,"
Google live traffic count declared Sunday;
the red meter shows traffic down more
than a third from usual around 2:00 PM

If fewer residents are putting themselves into public gathering places, they're also increasingly concerned about their children's exposure to coronavirus in the human petri dish network known as school. As rumors surged of a long-term closure starting Monday, Montgomery County Public Schools sent out messages dismissing them, emphasizing that schools will be open as usual Monday.

Google showing foot traffic down
at Bethesda Row Sunday

But it's too late for students at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville. Several students there volunteer at The Villages at Rockville retirement community, the only confirmed MoCo location any of the county's coronavirus patients visited that officials will publicly discuss. Parents there are expressing concern about the potential further exposure of other students if Frost holds classes today. MCPS insists classes are going forward.

One very smart publisher got this
timely magazine onto racks this weekend;
with the U.S. stupidly allowing travelers
exposed to coronavirus to reenter the country
without 14-day quarantine, it's a must read

According to Fox 5, Thomas Wootton High School students may have been exposed as well. Wootton parents have been notified by MCPS and the County Health Department about exposure, the station reports, but did not specify if it was related to Wootton students also having volunteered at the Villages.

Toilet paper panic is not limited to
Montgomery County amid coronavirus,
a scan of YouTube finds

As coronavirus panic continues to intensify, essential items continue to fly off of grocery and drug store shelves countywide. A single 3-pack of Puffs tissues was the only paper good left on the shelves at the Safeway at 5000 Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda late Sunday. Trucks are still delivering, however, as the Westwood Giant in Bethesda had plenty of paper goods on their previously-stripped shelves.

Mysterious haze over
Montgomery County Sunday

The stress of coronavirus had residents on edge when a mysterious haze descended over large areas of the county yesterday afternoon. Was the Deep State spraying us all with coronavirus from high-altitude aircraft? Well, it was the federal government creating the haze. But they told the public it was the U.S. Forest Service conducting a controlled burn near Quantico in Virginia. As residents rushed back to their homes with armfuls of Charmin to continue their Netflix binge, Quantico must have seemed suspiciously far from Bethesda.