The Montgomery County Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve tighter restrictions on businesses and other activities amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The order from County Executive Marc Elrich imposes stricter limits on all indoor and outdoor gatherings, from the current 50 people down to 25. It also reduces occupancy at fitness centers, places of worship, retail businesses, and restaurants from 50 to 25% of listed capacity, and restricts onsite consumption of alcohol past 10 p.m.

Montgomery and Prince George’s counties have remained in Phase 2 of reopening, even though Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan moved the state into Phase 3 in early September.

Business owners in the county testified at a public hearing that they were worried about the tightening of restrictions. Tom Ruder, owner of Symmetry Salon Studios in Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Bethesda, told the council his business has been taking COVID-19 precautions since January.

“I’m here to encourage you to take a balanced and nuanced approach going forward as our COVID count increases,” Ruder told councilmembers. “One size does not fit all.”

That concern was echoed by Ada Villatoro, the owner of El Golfo Restaurant in Silver Spring.

“We are struggling,” Villatoro told councilmembers. “Having [limited capacity] at 50% we are comfortable with it right now and I would like for you to keep it at 50% capacity for now.”

Councilmember Tom Hucker (D-District 5) and other legislators acknowledged that the order treats capacity limits at big-box stores and large grocery chains the same as small businesses and family-owned restaurants. Hucker said that while smaller grocery stores and businesses are following practices like counting people entering the store, wiping down carts, providing hand sanitizer, and enforcing face coverings, big-box stores are not.

“No one wants to pick on any of our businesses,” Hucker said. “If we’re going make our small businesses and family-owned restaurants and retail bear so much of the pain from this, I really think we need to be doing the same thing for our big-box stores as well.”

Hucker said he thinks health inspections should be focused on large chain stores and grocers. Councilmember Hans Riemer (D-At Large) agreed, and said the order was the first step on a broader continuum of mandates.

“The most drastic step is a stay-at-home order,” Riemer said, alluding to the reality that should cases become more severe, the county may implement another stay-at-home order.

Riemer said he thinks Hogan, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam need to step up to provide more leadership.

“I think Gov. Hogan made a huge difference in the outset of this pandemic,” Riemer said. “And we need him again to identify a regional strategy for the phase we are now heading into. We are not an island and we cannot do this all on our own.”

On Monday, six county executives including Elrich and Prince George’s County’s Angela Alsobrooks wrote a letter to Hogan asking him to work with them as COVID cases surge in the state. The letter states that Hogan has not taken part in a statewide call with county leadership in more than five months, according to a Baltimore Sun article.

As of the end of October, the county has seen an increase in the positivity rate from 3.0% to 3.8% and hospital bed utilization from 7.6% to 10.9%, according to county health data. These are similar to the numbers seen in June and July. As of Monday, the county has had more than 27,700 positive cases and more than 855 virus-related deaths.

The executive order goes into effect Tuesday at 5 p.m.