The governor outlined the state's progress on the number of hospitalizations and the numbers of people in intensive care units.

"Over the past seven days we have seen a good trend in hospitalizations with five-straight days downward and then a little bump up yesterday, but overall, we are down slightly from where we were a week ago," Hogan said. "Even more encouraging is that our ICU numbers have been basically flat, level at a plateau for eight-straight days. If these trends continue into next week, we will be ready to life the stay-at-home order and to begin stage one of our recovery plan. ... That would mean the reopening of certain types of businesses and lower-risk community, religious and quality-of-life activities."

The governor said certain elective surgeries and some outdoor activities can resume.

ELECTIVE SURGERIES: The Maryland Department of Health will issue guidelines, effective immediately, to allow for elective procedures at the discretion of local hospitals and health care providers.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES: Effective at 7 a.m. Thursday, the list of safe outdoor activities will be broadened to include: golf, tennis, boating, fishing, camping. Closed functions at state parks will be reopened, including all state beaches for walking and exercise, and playgrounds.

|| Read the governor's amended order on gatherings ||

Local governments will have the flexibility to take similar actions at their discretion. However, it is critical that Marylanders continue to follow public health guidance and practice physical distancing, Hogan said.

The governor outlined the progress the state is making on the building blocks needed to begin the state's recovery plan.

"We are flattening the curve and we are preparing to launch our reopening plan in order to safely get people back to work, safely get our small businesses back open again, to get our economy back on track so that Maryland and our nation can defeat this virus and come back stronger and better than ever," Hogan said.

SCHOOLS: Maryland public schools will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic school year.

"After extensive discussions with the Maryland state Board of Education, the Maryland Health Department and additional health experts advising the governor, I am convinced this is the appropriate decision in order to continue to protect the health and safety of our students, educators, staff and all members of school communities throughout Maryland," state schools Superintendent Karen Salmon said.

Online and distance learning opportunities will continue, and the Maryland state Department of Education is releasing "Maryland Together: Recovery Plan for Education," a comprehensive plan for long-term recovery.

The MSDE does not currently envision that schools would be included in stage one of the governor's plan; however, different methods of returning to school could be included in both stages two and three.

Decisions regarding graduation will be made by each local superintendent.

Update on building blocks needed to reopen Maryland

The governor outlined the progress the state is making on the building blocks needed to begin the state's recovery plan.

"We are flattening the curve and we are preparing to launch our reopening plan in order to safely get people back to work, safely get our small businesses back open again, to get our economy back on track so that Maryland and our nation can defeat this virus and come back stronger and better than ever," Hogan said.

"To continue to flatten the curve, we as Marylanders need to be consistently making the right choices for ourselves, for our friends and our family," said Dr. David Marcozzi, COVID-19 incident commander for the University of Maryland Medical System. "This is time to take care of ourselves, both physically and mentally. Let's make sure we do both. We can and we need to."

TESTING: The governor said the state has expanded testing capacity to cover outbreaks and hot spots. He said the state has surveyed all nursing homes and universal testing of residents and staff is underway.

Crews tested 2,300 people at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury last weekend in response to an outbreak at poultry processing plants. Universal testing will be conducted shift by shift at both processing plants to ensure that every poultry worker is tested, Hogan said.

A surge tent is being built at Easton Memorial Hospital to prepare for a spike in patients from that outbreak. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has crews there to assist with contact tracing.

PPE: The governor said the state recently acquired 4.5 million KN95 masks, 600,000 N95 masks, 150,000 medical gowns, 1.1 million face shields, and 3.5 million surgical gloves. The state has launched the "Maryland Manufacturing Network Supplier Portal" to connect Maryland suppliers with buyers.

HOSPITAL CAPACITY: The state has exceeded its goal of adding 6,000 beds, Hogan said. The state now has an additional 8,100 surge beds, including 2,400 ICU beds statewide.

CONTACT TRACING: The state recently is ramping up its disease investigation capability and hiring is underway with more than 900 applicants, Hogan said.

VACCINE TRIAL: The first patients in the U.S. were given a test vaccine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine as part of a global coronavirus vaccine development program.