Maryland reports 3,538 new coronavirus cases Saturday, second highest during pandemic

Lorraine Mirabella, The Baltimore Sun
·2 min read

Maryland officials reported 3,538 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus Saturday, the second-highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.

Health officials said 36 more people died of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes.

The state reached a record number of 3,792 new daily cases of the virus on Dec. 4.

The latest numbers come as Maryland prepares to receive 50,700 doses of Pfizer Inc. vaccines as early as Monday, which will be distributed to hospitals for their front-line staffs.

Maryland’s death toll has soared in November and December, jumping from 195 deaths recorded in October to 937 since Nov. 1. The state’s 14-day average of new deaths reported daily rose to 35 Friday, nearly quadruple the figure from a month ago.

Experts had expected case increases from Thanksgiving to begin showing up in data this week. Health officials are discouraging holiday travel and gatherings for Christmas.

The state reported 1,719 people hospitalized with virus-related complications on Saturday, 10 fewer than Friday, when the state set a pandemic record for the third day in a row. Hospitalizations have more than tripled since the beginning of November. As of Saturday, 406 of the state’s hospital patients required intensive care.

Last week, officials in several Maryland jurisdictions took steps to tighten restrictions as virus cases and deaths increased. A day after taking office, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott banned all indoor and outdoor dining in the city to prevent the spread of the virus, as of 5 p.m. Friday.

On Thursday, Gov. Larry Hogan attributed the increases to a “post-Thankgiving surge” and said the worst days of the pandemic are ahead.

Saturday’s statistics bring the state to at least 232,009 infections and 4,937 virus-related deaths during the pandemic.

The state’s positivity rate edged down slightly to 7.42% on Saturday.

Entering Saturday, Maryland ranked 41st among states in cases per 100,000 people and 23rd in deaths per capita, according to that John’s Hopkins University’s coronavirus resource center.

Hopkins, which calculates positivity differently than the state, has Maryland’s seven-data positivity rate through Friday’s data as data as 6%.

Baltimore Sun Reporter Ben Leonard contributed to this article.