906 cases added for state
Testing on the increase as officials reported receiving a record number of results
Maryland officials reported Monday that the state has confirmed 906 new cases of the coronavirus after receiving a recordhigh 8,311 test results in a 24-hour span.
The state has confirmed 19,487 total cases of COVID-19. Thirty-one more people died due to complications from the illness since Sunday, bringing the state total up to 858 fatalities. Another four more deaths were listed as probably caused by the coronavirus, bringing to 87 the number of likely deaths that haven’t been confirmed by a laboratory test.
Michael Ricci, spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan, attributed the record number of tests performed to resources the state procured from South Korea earlier this month. The state purchased $9 million worth of supplies needed to administer 500,000 tests.
Hogan’s wife, South Korean native Yumi Hogan, helped broker the deal as Hogan and governors across the country complained that the Trump administration and the federal government had not done enough to make testing more available.
After averaging around 4,200 newly completed tests from April 22 through April 25, the state announced Sunday that 7,532 test results had been secured since Saturday.
Monday built on that increase, with its count of 8,133 tests results, about 600 tests more than the day before.
Hogan announced Monday that the state will open two more drive-through COVID-19 testing sites, in Baltimore County and Calvert County, at converted Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program stations this week, bringing the total to seven. The Baltimore County facility is in Owings Mills.
With 906 newly confirmed cases, Monday’s total is an 11% increase over Sunday’s number of 815 new cases. It’s the state’s fourth largest single-day increase.
The state has yet to see more than two consecutive days in which the number of new cases was lower than the day before. Hogan has said that he would decide about reopening the state’s businesses and lifting restrictions when the state sees a downward trend in new cases and hospitalizations over a 14-day span.
As of Monday, 1,513 people are hospitalized with the disease, up 50 from Sunday.
The state reported 535 people in intensive care and another 978 people in acute care units being treated for the disease.
In total, 4,101 people in Maryland have been hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19, with 1,263 having been since released from isolation, the state reported.
The 20783 ZIP code — which includes parts of Hyattsville, Adelphi and Langley Park in Prince George’s County — continues to lead the state in total cases, with 58 new ones in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 505 cases.
Silver Spring continues to see a high number of cases as well, as three ZIP codes associated with the Montgomery County town — 20906, 20904 and 20902 — have a combined 998 cases.
The 21215 ZIP code — which includes parts of Northwest Baltimore and Baltimore County and the FutureCare Lochearn nursing home, where at least 170 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed — ranks fourth, with 15 new cases in the past 24 hours for a total of 344.
Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, Maryland’s two most populated counties, continue to lead the state in total COVID-19 cases, with 5,263 and 3,843, respectively.