COVID hospitalizations, testing positivity in Maryland continue to decline; about a third of state now fully vaccinated
A day after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced masks were no longer required outdoors in the state, a host of key coronavirus metrics, including hospitalizations and testing positivity, continued to decline.
Here’s a look at the Maryland Department of Health’s other pandemic indicators:
Cases
With 966 new infections, Maryland has now recorded 446,459 coronavirus cases since health officials began to track the pandemic in March 2020.
Maryland has recorded fewer than 1,000 cases for four of the last seven daysbut has averaged 1,047 new cases daily for the last two weeks. The 14-day average is about 300 cases lower than a spring high April 17 and down from a pandemic peak of 2,949 Jan. 12, during a post-holiday surge of the virus.
Deaths
Nine more people were reported dead from COVID-19. The disease has now killed 8,530 people in the state from the onset of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations
At least 1,000 people have remained hospitalized with COVID-19 every day for a month. There were 1,080 people still in Maryland hospitals Thursday, down 13 from the day before. Of those patients, 267 required intensive care, five fewer than Wednesday.
Testing positivity
A day after Maryland’s average testing positivity rate dropped below 4%, it continued to decline. The rate, which measures the average number of tests returned positive over the last week, was 3.77% Wednesday, down from 3.89% the day before.
That’s the lowest the rate has been since March 13.
The percentage has for six days remained below 5%, a bench mark the World Health Organization recommends a jurisdiction stay under for two weeks before easing restrictions. Hogan said Wednesday outdoor capacity restrictions for restaurants and bars would be lifted Saturday.
Vaccinations
Health officials in Maryland reported 59,417 new COVID-19 vaccinations, including 24,676 first doses of the two-dose vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. The state said 33,092 got their final inoculation, while 1,649 received Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine.
More than 2.6 million Marylanders, or about 43% of the state’s population, have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 1.94 million, roughly 32% of residents, have been fully vaccinated either by completing a two-dose schedule or getting the single-shot immunization, according to the state.
Maryland has reported an average of 57,706 immunizations daily over the last seven days, health department data shows.
Vaccines by age:
More than 30% of 16- and 17-year-olds in Maryland have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the only immunization authorized for people below 18.
Meanwhile, 80.5% of Marylanders 65 and older, almost 64% of residents between 50 and 64 years old and about 47% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 have received at least one vaccine dose, according to health department data.
Vaccines by race:
About 2.7 times more white people have been fully vaccinated in Maryland as Black people, demographic groups that account for 58.5% and 31% of the state’s population. When it comes to first doses, Black residents have received about 2.5 times fewer immunizations than white residents, health department data shows.
Meanwhile, roughly 6% of the people who’ve been fully vaccinated identify as Latino, a demographic that makes up about 11% of Maryland residents. Latino residents have received roughly 7% of the approximately 2.4 million first doses administered in the for which the recipients ethnicity was known.
Vaccines by county:
Howard County became the first jurisdiction in the state where more than half the residents have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine with 52% of its 326,000 residents at least partially vaccinated. Montgomery County, Maryland’s most populous with more 1.05 million people, is not far behind with about 49% of residents having received at least one dose.
About 47% of the approximately 32,000 residents in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore have received at least one dose. It’s the only other locality in the state where more than 45% of the population has achieved at least partial immunity.
The average of the state’s 24 jurisdictions is 38.5% of people having received at least one dose. Twelve localities checked in below: Baltimore City and the counties of Allegany, Cecil, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester, Garrett, Prince George’s, Somerset, St. Mary’s, Wicomico and Washington.
The five counties with the smallest shares of their populations getting at least one dose are Somerset (26.9%), Washington (28.8%), Caroline (30.3%), Cecil (30.8%) and Allegany (31.85%).
Save for Somerset County, all of those jurisdictions are more than 80% white. They are all located in Western Maryland or the Eastern Shore, with populations ranging from about 26,000 (Somerset) to 151,000 (Washington).
Talbot (42.9%), Worcester (39.5%), Howard (38.2%), Kent (36.3%) and Montgomery (35.6%) are pacing the state in terms of the shares of their populations who’ve been fully vaccinated.
