Anne Arundel sets new single-day coronavirus case record
On New Year’s Day, Anne Arundel County confirmed 407 more coronavirus cases, shattering the single-day record set a day prior.
The county now has 24,815 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The previous record was 363 new cases reported on New Year’s Eve, according to Maryland Health Department data.
Two more county residents died of the virus, the state reported. In all, 354 people have died since the pandemic began in March.
Another 13 may have died from the virus, but a lab test was not performed.
Maryland reported an additional 3,557 coronavirus cases and 47 deaths attributed to the virus. The newly reported cases were the second-highest daily statewide total since the pandemic began. The state’s test positivity rate is 8.8%, an increase from the day before and — for the third day in a row — the highest it’s been since early June.
In more promising news, an additional 7,047 people were vaccinated in the past 24 hours, according to the state. Maryland remains in its first vaccination phase, targeting front-line health care workers, employees and residents of long-term care facilities and others. More than 50,000 people have now received their first dose of the vaccine, less than 1% of the state’s population.
On Wednesday, Health Office Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman and others were inoculated in Glen Burnie where about 200 firefighters and other first responders lined up to be vaccinated.
Total vaccination figures for Anne Arundel were not available, but more than half of those vaccinated in the state — 25,948 — have been from the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, including Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.
Anne Arundel’s positivity rate has remained above the state’s since early December, hitting 9.71% on Friday. The county’s case rate per 100,000 inched up to 41.88, well above the state’s rate of 37.7.
The county’s hospitalization rate and cases by ZIP code were not updated due to the holiday.
On Friday, 1,734 people remained hospitalized with the virus in Maryland. Of that number, 388 require intensive care, a decrease from the day prior. Hospitalizations have been above 1,600 since Dec. 8 and hit a pandemic high of 1,799 on Dec. 15.