State reports 827 new COVID-19 cases, 13 deaths

Recorded 37,000 doses of virus vaccine have been administered statewide

Maryland health officials reported 827 new cases of the coronavirus and 13 more deaths Sunday as roughly 37,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the past 24 hours.

State officials have reported a total of 382,099 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, since roughly the middle of last March. In addition, 7,687 Maryland residents have died due to the disease or complications from it.

Health officials reported that 22,398 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered over the past 24 hours and that 14,728 residents received their second doses during that time period. In total, the state has administered more than 1.3 million doses of the vaccine, according to the state health department.

The vaccination rate is a slight dip from Saturday, when state officials reported a record high of more than 43,000 doses administered in a 24-hour period. However, it still outpaces the vaccination rate over the past week, when the state reported 32,175 people per day having received a dose of the vaccine.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan wrote on Twitter that the state’s seven-day average vaccination rate is at an all-time high of more than 34,000 shots per day, also touting the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine that received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday.

Currently, 868 people in Maryland are hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19; that’s 24 fewer than Saturday. The statewide seven-day average positivity rate is at 3.46%.

The state reported that 38,775 coronavirus tests were completed in the past 24 hours and a daily positivity rate of 2.71%.

As the state races to vaccinate vulnerable populations, the CDC said 78 cases of the variants first found in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil have been confirmed in Maryland as of Thursday, the latest data available. The majority of those, 68 cases, are the B.1.1.7 strain first found in the United Kingdom. The CDC said nine of the cases are the B.1.351 variant first found in South Africa and one case is the P.1 variant spreading in Brazil.

All of the variants are considered to be more contagious than the original virus that causes COVID-19, and Hogan has said the state is in a “race against the variants.”

Data shows that vaccines are still being administered disproportionately to the state’s white population.

As of Sunday, white Marylanders have received 811,791 doses of the vaccine, or about 66% of all doses administered in the state where racial data was available. White residents represent roughly 59% of the state’s population when not accounting for those of Hispanic descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the state, Black residents have received 200,632 doses of the vaccine, or about 16.3% of all vaccines administered where racial data was available. This is despite Black residents accounting for nearly 35% of all coronavirus deaths in the state where demographic data was available and about 31.1% of the population.

Prince George’s County, a majority-Black county and Maryland’s secondmost populated jurisdiction with more than 909,000 residents, still has the lowest vaccination rate in the state.

According to health officials, about 7.58% of the county’s population has received their first dose of the vaccine and about 3.41% have gotten their second dose. Statewide, health officials report that 13.94% of Maryland residents have received their first dose while 7.68% have received their second dose as of Sunday.

Latino residents, who represent about 10.6% of the state’s population and account for more than 9% of coronavirus deaths, are also being vaccinated at a lower rate. According to the state, 47,663 doses of the vaccine have been administered to Hispanic residents, or about 4.08% of vaccines where data on ethnicity was available.

Meanwhile, rural counties with larger populations of residents ages 65 or older are showing higher-than-average vaccination rates.

Worcester, Talbot and Kent counties — rural counties where white residents are more than 81% of their population and at least 27% of residents are 65 years or older — are now all reporting more than 20% of their residents have received their first dose of the vaccine. All three counties are also reporting that more than 10% of their residents have received their second dose.

For comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about 15.9% of Maryland’s population is age 65 or older.

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