State reports 297 new virus cases

Eight more deaths also reported Monday as total cases rise to 64,603 Maryland yet to test all juvenile facilities

Maryland officials reported 297 new cases of the coronavirus Monday and eight more deaths.

Monday’s additions bring the state’s totals to 64,603 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus, and to 2,945 people who have died due to the disease or complications from it.

As of Monday, 602 people in Maryland are hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19, a decrease of six patients compared to Sunday.

Officials reported that 370 patients are in acute care units while 232 are in intensive care.

The statewide testing positivity rate stood at 5.03% as of Monday.

Health experts and the Trump administration have offered conflicting guidelines as to what rate of positive COVID-19 tests states should reach before reopening businesses and lifting business restrictions.

Gov. Larry Hogan has cited a guideline from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends reopenings after two weeks of a positivity rate of less than 15%. The CDC recommendation for even further reopenings is another two weeks of positivity rates below 10%.

Johns Hopkins University, meanwhile, compares states to a World Health Organization standard of 5% positivity rate for two weeks.

By the Hopkins calculation, Maryland is at 4.85% as of Monday, moving into the group of 30 states that meet the WHO guidelines.

While Hogan gradually lifted statewide restrictions on businesses in recent weeks, he’s left municipalities and counties to make their own decisions about how to reopen.

On Friday, Baltimore City, which has a positivity test rate of 5.56%, allowed restaurants, churches and gyms to reopen in a limited capacity. The Horseshoe Casino Baltimore also was allowed to reopen at 50% capacity with other safeguards.

The state’s Hispanic population continues to contract the disease at a disproportionately higher rate than other demographic groups.

More than a quarter of all confirmed COVID-19 cases, 17,580, were in Hispanic patients, despite the fact that they represent 10.4% of the state’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This does not account for the fact that the state does not have demographic data on about one out of every six diagnosed cases.

The 20783 ZIP code — which includes parts of Hyattsville, Adelphi and Langley Park in Prince George’s County and is majority Hispanic, according to censusreporter.org — leads the state in total cases with 2,180 as of Monday.

Black Maryland residents continue to lead the state in total COVID-19 cases, with 18,657 as of Monday, despite the fact that they represent 30.9% of the state’s population.

For comparison, state officials have confirmed 12,693 cases of COVID-19 in white patients, a demographic that constitutes 58.8% of Maryland’s population.

Prince George’s and Montgomery counties continue to lead the state in total cases, with 17,935 and 14,141, respectively, representing a little more than half of all confirmed cases in the state.

While the two counties continue to see higher positive testing rates, they’ve also seen their rates decrease at a similar pace as the rest of the state since May.

As of Monday, Prince George’s County has a positivity rate of 8.6% and Montgomery County was at 6.88%.

Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services is facing criticism for not testing all of the youths and staff members housed at its facilities, despite Gov. Larry Hogan announcing last month that “universal testing” would take place across the department.

Department spokesman Eric Solomon wrote in an email that the department has administered 163 tests to juveniles and 264 to staff at its facilities “since COVID-19 testing began.” As of Monday, seven youths and 19 DJS staff have tested positive for COVID-19, Solomon wrote.

While Solomon maintains the department’s three-part plan is currently on schedule, the public defender’s office criticized the department for taking a month to only get to part two of its plan. Hogan announced the push for universal testing at all juvenile facilities on May 20.

Jenny Egan, chief attorney of the juvenile division at the Office of the Public Defender, said the department’s standards for testing could leave children exposed at the facilities.

“I’m very concerned about why DJS has created this roll out process,” said Egan, adding that her office has not received sufficient answers as to why the department has instituted a multi-part plan while the state reported 7,433 newly completed COVID-19 tests in a 24-hour period on Monday.

“This is how long it would take to roll out?” she asked.

Solomon said the testing “is divided into three cohorts” and is scheduled to be completed by the end of July.

He did not elaborate further on which facilities are included in which part of the plan, nor when each part is scheduled to be completed outside of the entirety scheduled to end by the end of next month.

Solomon wrote that the “second cohort is under way as planned and is on schedule,” but provided no details as to what that schedule was or what is being done to meet its requirements.

He added that the dates and locations of the plan are also subject to change based on the department’s needs, writing “we are reserving flexibility to change locations and dates when needed to accommodate the needs of the agency.” He did not answer further questions about which facilities were tested already or are scheduled to be tested next, nor how the department prioritized testing among its facilities.

“Anyone who enters DJS facilities on a regular basis will be tested,” Solomon wrote. “This includes DJS staff, vendors, contractors, and teachers from [The Maryland State Department of Education.] Additionally, it has been about a month since a youth or staff member has tested positive in a DJS facility.”

But with a changing population as alleged juvenile offenders are entered into the system, Egan said, the state has not done enough to reach Hogan’s stated goal of “universal testing.”

According to a daily population report of DJS facilities, as of Monday, 147 youths are housed at DJS detention facilities, with more at various department programs such as in residential treatment care or at group homes.

Of that 147, 14 people are listed as either in “New Admission Quarantine,” “Medical Isolation,” or in just “Quarantine,” according to the report. Those statuses may not have any connection with COVID-19 cases. They range from three female youths in quarantine at the Alfred D. Noyes Children’s Center in Rockville to four newly admitted male youths in quarantine at the Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George’s County.

Egan said that without department-wide testing to get a snapshot of known cases at a given time, the state could be putting youths at risk. “If they don’t test everyone in a concerted manner around the same time, then you don’t get a full picture of what’s going on,” Egan said.