State reports 900 new cases, 14 more deaths

Maryland remains among the nation’s leaders in administering the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, according to a report Tuesday afternoon from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maryland ranks second among states in the number of Johnson & Johnson doses administered, trailing only New York, which has received almost three times as many doses of the single-dose vaccine. Only Iowa has administered a greater percentage of the Johnson & Johnson doses it has been allocated than Maryland, which has received the 17th most doses of the Baltimore-made vaccine.

Maryland, though, is not yet disclosing data for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on its coronavirus dashboard. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna brand vaccines, which require two doses to be their most effective, Johnson & Johnson’s needs only one.

Here are where Maryland’s virus-related indicators stand Wednesday.

Cases

Maryland reported 900 new cases Wednesday, bringing the total count of confirmed infections in the state to 389,566.

The state has reported fewer than 1,000 new cases all but one day since Feb. 14, but it has reported 900 or more new infections three times in the past six days.

Deaths

The state reported 14 more Marylanders have died as a result of the coronavirus. In all, 7,820 residents with confirmed infections of COVID-19 have died.

Hospitalizations

There are 801 patients in Maryland’s hospitals facing the effects of COVID-19, nine more than Tuesday. Of those, 216 cases require intensive care, one more than Tuesday, when both hospitalizations and ICU cases were the lowest they had been since November.

Vaccinations

Another 25,000 Marylanders received their first doses of coronavirus vaccine Tuesday, meaning 17.7% of the state’s 6 million-plus residents are at least partially vaccinated; Maryland ranks 25th among states in that metric, per the CDC report. About 9.7% of residents are fully vaccinated, meaning they have received all of the required doses; the CDC ranks Maryland 17th among states in that percentage.

Not including Johnson & Johnson doses, the state has administered 1.6 million doses in all. Maryland is 31st in doses administered per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC.

Vaccines by age: Of the 54 million or so residents nationally who are 65 or older, 56.4% have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to CDC data. In Maryland, that figure is 51.4%.

Vaccines by race and ethnicity: About 18% of Marylanders who have received at least one dose are Black, a race that represents 31% of the state’s overall population, while Latino residents, 11% of the population, have accounted for 4.2% of those who have been vaccinated at least once, among those whose race and ethnicity were known.

Vaccines by county: All but seven Maryland jurisdictions have fully vaccinated at least 10% of their populations. Four of those seven that haven’t — Montgomery, Prince George’s, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel — rank among Maryland’s five most populous jurisdictions.

Prince George’s County ranks last among jurisdictions in percentage of both partial and full vaccinations.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced Wednesday that the state will prioritize 300 appointments a day for Prince George’s residents at the Six Flags America mass vaccination site in Bowie — an increase of 500 per week — as well as 980 per day at First Baptist Church of Glenarden by the end of the month.

Nursing homes

Maryland provides updates on the virus’ impact on nursing home residents and staff every Wednesday.

There were 20 virus-related deaths reported among nursing home residents and staff over the past week, according to state data. Fewer than one of every 12 confirmed infections in Maryland has been found in a nursing home resident or staff member, but those groups account for 44.4% of the state’s death toll from the virus.

Among the states, Maryland has administered the 13th most vaccine doses to residents and staff of long-term care facilities, according to the CDC.

Positivity rate

The state’s seven-day testing positivity rate, which effectively measures the percentage of tests that return positive results in a weeklong span, rose to 3.61% Wednesday, up from 3.4% Tuesday. The rate is the highest its been since Feb. 26.

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