Fewer than 800 people hospitalized
First time state has reached number since November
For the first time since mid-November, the number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Maryland dipped below 800, according to state health department data.
New cases of the virus have declined markedly since January but may be beginning to plateau. It comes as the state hustles to vaccinate its population, and a new singleshot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has become available.
Here’s the data reported Monday:
Cases
Maryland health officials reported 716 new cases of the coronavirus Monday. The state hasn’t reported more than 1,000 new cases in a day since Feb. 19.
That represents a significant decline from earlier this year, when daily case counts climbed above 3,000. Overall, Maryland has reported 388,035 cases of COVID-19 since officials began tracking the virus a year ago.
Deaths
The state announced Monday that eight more people have died due to complications from the virus, bringing Maryland’s total to 7,781 deaths.
Hospitalizations
Health officials said Monday 792 people were in Maryland hospitals with COVID-19. It’s the first time since Nov. 10 that hospitalizations have fallen below 800 people.
Positivity Rate
The seven-day average testing positivity rate was 3.36% Monday, the same as
Sunday’s. The rate has been below 5%, a World Health Organization recommended bench mark for reopening, since Feb. 11.
Vaccination
Maryland reported Monday that 10,781 new first doses of coronavirus vaccines were administered, as well as 6,613 new second doses. That’s well off the record set on Saturday, when 31,239 first doses were reported.
So far, 16.9% of the state population has at least one dose, and 9.3% have two doses.
As of Sunday, Maryland ranked 31st among states on the Centers for Disease Control vaccination list, having administered 27,220 doses per 100,000 people.
The state’s vaccination dashboard does not yet include single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine data, said state health department spokesman Charlie Gischlar.
“We’re in the process of updating our reporting process and expect to show J&J doses soon,” Gischlar wrote in a statement. Vaccination by Age: About 53% of first doses of the vaccines have gone to people over 60, according to Monday’s data.
Vaccination by Race: About 18% of first shots have gone to Black Marylanders, who represent 31% of the state population, according to U.S. Census data. About 4% of the people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine are Latino, a group that makes up 11% of the state population.
Vaccination by County: Montgomery County, the state’s largest jurisdiction, has given at least one shot to the most people — 183,637, or 17.5% of its population. But Prince George’s County, the state’s second largest jurisdiction, has given shots to about half as many people.
The state’s smaller counties on the Eastern Shore have vaccinated the greatest shares of their populations. Talbot County, for instance, has given first shots to nearly a quarter of its population. But Howard County, which is considerably larger, is also moving quickly. About 20% of that county’s population have received at least one vaccine dose.
When Lea Gilmore was in her 20s, she lost 11 friends in one year to HIV/AIDS. It was in the ’80s, and people knew very little about the illness, Gilmore said.
So she educated herself. Then she spoke out against the stigma often associated with the disease and fought for better health care access. Gilmore says losing so many friends provided the foundation for her “activist spirit.”
A Baltimore native, Gilmore, 55, grew up in Northwood and graduated from Morgan State University in 1993. She eventually used that activist spirit when she served as deputy director of the ACLU of Maryland.
About a year ago, Gilmore joined Govans Presbyterian Church, a nearly 260-member predominantly white church in a mostly Black community, as its first service music director. She is a jazz, gospel and blues singer who has performed across the globe.
This year, Gilmore added a new role: serving as the church’s first minister for racial justice and multicultural engagement.
She and the church’s minister, the Rev. Tom Harris, who is white, launched a book discussion group last fall so members could discuss books about racial justice and equity. A racial justice ministry working group, made up of several church members and two community members, was launched in
January.
Gilmore said her plan is to educate people on how to become an anti-racist.
“[I want to] get people to understand the difference between saying, ‘I’m not racist, and I am an anti-racist.’ The anti-racist is the person who is proactively not racist, and who is doing things to make a difference in the community,” she said.
Gilmore said she will feel successful when her church members feel confident speaking up, for instance, to their racist uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Besides creating Gilmore’s racial justice position, Harris said there are still things the church needs to do, such as avoiding token representation.
Moving forward, Harris said, the church will need to be more thoughtful with its hiring if it wants to be a more welcoming place, noting that “we can’t just keep having white people on staff.”
Harris said the church, located on York Road, is on a racial, socioeconomic dividing line. To the west side of the church is Homeland, one of the city’s wealthiest and predominantly white neighborhoods, and to the east and south of the church are predominantly Black neighborhoods that are not as well off economically, he said.
“We are in this amazing spot, which speaks to so much of the Baltimore racial history and racial division. We think we can have a real opportunity to make a difference, given our location,” Harris said.
Tanya Morrel, a white church member and a member of the new racial justice ministry working group, said she’d like to see more Black members at the church.
“We are in a predominantly Black city … we have no business having a predominantly white church in a predominantly Black city,” Morrel said.
She added that she questions whether the church has had a welcoming environment for people of color, saying one change she’d like to see at the church is calling out and noticing behaviors that make people of color feel less welcome. Morrel said she has been educating herself on race issues.
Morrel said Gilmore’s position would benefit the church.
“She’s very good at talking about race with people. If they’re uncomfortable and nervous, she makes them feel more comfortable,” Morrel said.
But unfortunately, many people will shut down if they’re feeling judged, she added.
“It’s part of the problem — this whole white fragility — is that people feel uncomfortable, and they shut down. And they blame everybody else,” Morrel said.
As a former leader of ACLU, Gilmore said she plans on bringing what she learned there to the church. While at the ACLU, she said, she worked on a broad range of social justice issues, including education, equity and LGBTQ+ issues.
In her new role, she said she’ll make sure the church is inclusive for all, including the LGBTQ community.
“Having them welcome within our sanctuary as well is very important to me,” Gilmore said.