State reports 670 new cases, but record low positivity rate

Maryland reported 670 new cases of the coronavirus Friday, and five new deaths caused by COVID-19.

After a fresh peak earlier this month, new daily case numbers have started trending down again. Friday’s caseload, though, is the largest since Aug. 15, when 818 cases were reported. For the past six days, the number of new daily cases had been lower than 600.

Since June 25, the state’s seven-day average positivity rate for COVID-19 testing has been below 5%, a key reopening benchmark as defined by the World Health Organization. On Friday, the rate was 3.08%, a new low. Maryland’s rate is below 4% for the 13th consecutive day.

Hospitalizations have been declining slightly. Maryland reported 455 people in the hospital Friday due to COVID-19, the same as on Thursday. Of those, 102 were in intensive care units. ICU levels are down 35% since July 25, the state reported.

Maryland’s positivity rate as determined by researchers at Johns Hopkins University has long been higher than the state’s number, because Hopkins doesn’t include some repeat tests administered to the same individual. But even Hopkins’ rate is now below 5%, at 4.40%.

Of the 1.7 million COVID-19 tests Maryland has reported, more than 500,000 have been administered to people who had been tested previously. About 8.6% of the state’s nearly 1.2 million residents tested have received at least one positive result.

On Thursday, for the first time, all of the state’s jurisdictions had seven-day average positivity rates below 5%, but Somerset County inched above that metric Friday with a rate of 5.29%.

The state is not, however, reporting average test return time, and some residents have complained of long delays in getting results.

The most new cases were reported Friday among people in their 20s. They represented about 20% of Friday’s new caseload, but, according to Census data, they are about 13% of the state population. About 58% of Friday’s new cases were among people younger than 40, a group that makes up about 52% of the state population.

The positivity rate among Marylanders under 35 is 3.58%, but it is 2.76% for Marylanders over 35.

In a news release Friday, Gov. Larry Hogan attributed improving employment numbers in Maryland to the state’s improving COVID-19 outlook.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that Maryland added 53,900 jobs last month, and that the state unemployment rate is 7.6% as of July. The national average, meanwhile, is 9.2%. Maryland’s unemployment rate is lower than that of neighboring Virginia — 8% — and Washington, DC — 8.4%.

The state’s leisure and hospitality sector grew the most in June, adding more than 26,000 jobs.