Five months after Montgomery County loosened its coronavirus restrictions, county manager Marc Elrich is looking to tighten them up again. With cases on the rise, Elrich wants to roll back capacity limits from 50 percent to 25 percent for stores, restaurants, bowling alleys and fitness centers. He also wants to rescind the current waiver allowing late-night alcohol sales, forcing restaurants to stop their customers from boozing after 10 p.m. Under the current restrictions, diners are allowed to finish drinking whatever is on their tables at that hour. But the county says it’s received complaints about people gaming the system by “ordering large quantities of alcohol” just before cutoff time. Elrich’s proposals, which also include new rules about contact tracing, will be up for a vote from the county council next week.
