State sets another vaccination record

Number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases, positivity rate continue trending poorly

Maryland’s coronavirus testing positivity rate continued its climb Saturday, and Maryland once again reported more than 1,000 new daily cases of the virus.

But the state’s vaccination effort is accelerating quickly amid increasingly worrying coronavirus metrics. Saturday, the state reported administering more than 78,000 shots — a new record.

Here’s where things stand:

Cases

For the fourth day in a row, Maryland health officials reported more than 1,000 new cases of the coronavirus, adding 1,275 to the state’s tally.

Through much of March, the average number of new daily cases was between 700 and 900. Now, Maryland’s 14-day average is nearly 1,200. For context, during a peak in infections in mid-January, the 14-day average was more than 2,900.

In total, state health officials have reported 415,660 cases of the coronavirus in Maryland.

Deaths

Saturday, officials reported 23 additional deaths caused by the coronavirus, bringing Maryland’s total to 8,157.

Hospitalizations

For the sixth straight day, Maryland health officials reported more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19.

Officials said that 19 additional people were reported hospitalized since Friday, bringing the total hospitalized to 1,064.

While this represents a significant departure from the pandemic’s peak in mid-January, when more than 1,900 people were hospitalized at a time, hospitalizations have been increasing fairly steadily in the state since mid-March.

Positivity rate

For the seventh straight day, Maryland’s seven-day average testing positivity rate increased, moving from 5.6% to 5.82%.

Maryland remains above the 5% mark, which the World Health Organization considers a prerequisite to safe reopening, so long as localities can maintain it for two weeks.

For about a month, Maryland’s rate remained below that threshold, declining as low as 3.24%. But the rate has been on the upswing practically ever since.

The rate in Harford County, 10.16%, was the worst of any jurisdiction in the state.

Vaccinations

Saturday, Maryland health officials reported administering another 78,756 vaccinations.

Some 48% of them were first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which require two doses. Meanwhile, 46% of them were second doses, and about 6% of them were of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson variety.

So far, about 17.9% of the state population has been fully vaccinated. About 31.7% of the state is at least partially immunized.

Vaccinations by age

As of Saturday, 73.1% of Marylanders over 65 years old have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, health officials reported. About 42% of Marylanders between 50 and 64 have been at least partially vaccinated, as have about 27% of those between 18 and 49.

Vaccinations by race

Throughout the vaccine rollout, Black

Marylanders have been vaccinated at a disproportionately slower rate than their white counterparts, according to available race data.

As of Saturday, 22% of shots have been given to Black Marylanders, who make up 31% of the state population, according to U.S. Census data. Meanwhile, 65% of shots have gone to white Marylanders, who make up 58.5% of the state population.

The story is similar for Hispanic and Latino Marylanders. They make up 11% of the state population, but have received 5% of the state’s shots for which ethnicity data was reported.

Vaccinations by county

Disparities also run along county lines. Several small counties on the Eastern Shore have vaccinated more than 20% of their populations. One — Talbot County — has fully inoculated more than a quarter of its population.

But other counties are struggling. Namely, Prince George’s County, a large majority-Black jurisdiction, has only fully vaccinated 11.3% of its population. Its large size alone can’t account for the difference. Its neighbor, Montgomery County, the only jurisdiction with a larger population, has vaccinated 19% of its population.