Slight decline in new cases with 755 and 6 more deaths

Maryland reported new 755 coronavirus cases and 6 new deaths from the virus Monday.

On average, new case counts have declined slightly since a peak in early August. Roughly 160 fewer cases were reported on Monday than Sunday.

Meanwhile, the state hasn’t reported more than 20 deaths in a day since late June.

In total, the state has reported 96,258 cases and 3,454 deaths as a result of the disease since the virus first showed up in Maryland in mid-March.

Hospitalizations also have started a slight decline of late. On August 1, hospitalizations from the virus climbed close to 600 people, but since then, they’ve mostly trended downward. Currently, 534 people are in the hospital because of COVID-19, nine more than Sunday. About 22% of those individuals are in intensive care units.

The state’s seven-day average testing positivity rate declined to another record low — 3.62% — on Monday, but the rate reported by Johns Hopkins University, which is calculated differently, has remained considerably higher than that reported by the state. Most recently, the university reported it at 5.53%.

Hopkins takes into account the number of people tested to calculate its rate, but Maryland uses the number of tests conducted, meaning that if one person takes multiple tests, they are all included.

The state conducted 29,731 tests over the past 24 hours, short of its record high Sunday — 40,473. In total, 17.5% of Maryland’s population has been tested, the state reported.

Baltimore City reported the largest number of new cases Monday — 157 — followed closely by Baltimore County, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County. Anne Arundel County also has seen its case count rise quickly, with 55 new cases reported Monday.

Prince George’s is one of just two jurisdictions with a testing positivity rate above 5% in the state, according to the state’s calculations. The other is Queen Anne’s County.

Maryland’s climbing case count continues to be driven by younger people. People younger than 40 represented 56.4% of Monday’s new caseload, although they’re about 52% of the state’s population, Census data shows. But the state also reported Monday that the positivity rate among people younger than 35 has dropped nearly 30% since July 23, to 4.78%.

The virus continues to have a disproportionate impact on Black and brown communities. Hispanic people, who represent about 10% of the state population, represent nearly a quarter of the state’s cases for which race data is reported. Black people, who make up about 29% of the state population, are 31% of cases. White people, who make up about half of Maryland’s population, represent fewer than 22% of cases.