Maryland adds 788 positive cases to its total
11,572 confirmed infections
The Maryland Department of Health added 788 cases of the coronavirus to the state’s tally Friday for a total of 11,572 overall — and another 33 deaths pushed the fatality count to 425.
The state included 69 probable deaths in its tally, those who likely died from the COVID-19 illness but whose cases have not been confirmed by a laboratory test. About 50,000 Marylanders have tested negative for the disease, according to the state’s report.
The latest cases represent a 7% jump since Thursday and a nearly 30% increase in the count of positives since Monday, which could be attributed to the state’s expanding capacity to test.
The health department also reported that another 161 people were hospitalized since Thursday for complications associated with the new virus, bringing the total hospitalized to 2,162.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has pledged to add thousands of beds to the state’s normal hospital capacity to aid in an expected surge in COVID-19 patients seeking treatment. It’s unclear how many beds already have been set up, though the Maryland Health Care Commission has approved the emergency addition of dozens of beds at facilities including Meritus Medical Center, University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, Northwest Hospital Center and the Baltimore Convention Center, among others, in recent weeks.
Hogan cautioned that Maryland has not yet reached a peak of cases and deaths.
“We’ve slowed the growth and we’ve blunted that curve, but we are unfortunately on the way up that slide,” the
Republican governor said Friday morning during a teleconference with The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. “We believe we are getting close to the peak in the next week or so, but time will tell.”
Meanwhile, the state’s release of racial and ethnic data continues to reveal disparities between groups. Black Marylander account for about half of the cases and deaths in which race is known, while whites account for about 31% of those cases and 41% of those deaths. However, African Americans account for just 30% of the state’s population.
The state began reporting this week the numbers of Hispanic people who have contracted and died from COVID-19. On Friday, Maryland’s Hispanic population made up 16% of the cases is which race is known, but just 5% of those deaths.
Data remains unavailable for the racial and ethnic identities of more than one in five of the known cases.
While Prince George’s County continues to outpace other counties in cases, the 21215 ZIP code in Baltimore and Baltimore County remains the most concentrated. Local leaders had pushed the state to make this data public, citing the need to allocate more resources to the most vulnerable communities, populations and neighborhoods.
Hogan said that while the figures might appear grim, Marylanders should be encouraged by the progress made.
“Our case numbers are still growing each day and the number of deaths is continuing to increase. But because of our early and aggressive actions and the extraordinary sacrifices of Marylanders, we are beginning to see some hopeful and encouraging signs, which have allowed us to begin laying the groundwork to reopen, to rebuild and to recover as soon as it is safe to do so,” he said.