Officials report 985 more cases, 15 deaths
Maryland reported fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases Monday, and hospitalizations from the virus decreased slightly, but the state’s testing positivity rate ticked up.
Meanwhile, nearly one in four Marylanders are now fully vaccinated against the disease. On Monday, Maryland moved into Phase 3 of its vaccine plan, meaning all residents 16 and older are eligible to get their shots.
Here’s where the state’s pandemic-related measures stood:
Cases
Maryland health officials reported 985 new cases of the coronavirus Monday. But over the past few weeks, the state is averaging about 1,300 new cases a day — up from 1,100 at the beginning of the month.
That average has climbed steadily since early March, when it dipped below 800.
State officials have said young people are the source of the recent rise in infections. Over the past two weeks, cases among people 10 to 19 years old — some of whom have recently returned to in-person schooling — have increased 6%, and cases among people in their 20s have increased 4.9% — the two largest increases for any age group in the state.
Throughout the pandemic, Maryland has reported a total of 427,715 coronavirus cases.
Deaths
The state reported 15 more people died from the coronavirus. Since the pandemic hit Maryland, 8,284 people have died in the state.
Hospitalizations
Meanwhile, 1,233 people are hospitalized in Maryland with COVID-19, seven fewer than reported Sunday. More than 1,000 Marylanders have been hospitalized due to the disease every day since March 29.
Positivity
Maryland’s seven-day average testing positivity rate was 5.6% Monday, up from 5.41% reported on Sunday.
Fewer tests are normally conducted over weekends, though. About 15,000 were reported Monday, compared to between 30,000 and 50,000 during the week.
The positivity rate has declined slightly since it climbed close to 6% earlier this month, but it’s been above the World Health Organization’s 5% benchmark for relaxing restrictions since March 29.
Since late March, Harford County has reported the state’s highest testing positivity rate. As of Monday, it was 9.29%.
Vaccinations
State health officials reported administering 41,195 new coronavirus vaccine doses over the past 24 hours — the highest total yet for a Sunday. But that’s down from about 64,000 shots administered Saturday and a record 94,000 shots earlier in the week.
That includes 10,620 first doses of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech regimen, 15,916 second doses and 14,659 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In total, about 23% of the state population is fully vaccinated so far.
Vaccinations by Age: More than three-quarters of Marylanders over 65 (76.5%) have been vaccinated with at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, compared to more than half of those ages 50 to 64 (51.6%).
In addition, 34.3% of people ages 18 to 49 have received at least one dose, and 10.6% of 16 and 17-year-olds. Younger Marylanders are not yet approved to receive the vaccines.
Vaccinations by Race: Black and Hispanic Marylanders continue to receive disproportionately fewer shots compared to other racial groups.
So far, about 22.7% of all the vaccines administered in the state have gone to Black Marylanders, who make up about 31% of the state population, according to U.S. Census data.
And Hispanic and Latino Marylanders have received 5.3% of shots, while they make up about 11% of the state population.
Vaccinations by County: Prince George’s County — one of the state’s largest jurisdictions — still lags behind in vaccinations. As of Monday, about 15.5% of the majority-Black county was fully vaccinated. Next door in Montgomery County, which is the only county with more people, but is majority-white, 24.3% of people are fully vaccinated.
Talbot County, one of the smallest in Maryland, continues to lead with one in three residents fully vaccinated. Somerset County, which is even smaller, though, lags behind, with about one in six vaccinated. Talbot is 13% Black, and Somerset is 41% Black.