336 new cases on fewer than 10K results

9 deaths reported; Hopkins positivity rate stays above 6%

For a second day in a row, Maryland reported a lower than usual number of new coronavirus cases, but Wednesday’s 336 confirmed infections came as the state reported fewer than 10,000 test results for the first time in more than two months.

Maryland had reported at least 10,000 test results each day since July 7. Wednesday’s new case count also marks the state’s fewest for a single day since July 6.

Over the past two days, Maryland has reported 692 new cases from 22,866 test results — lower than the single-day totals for both figures reported Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week.

Wednesday’s additions bring Maryland to 113,575 total cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and 3,672 virus-related fatalities, with the nine deaths reported Wednesday.

The state reported that its hospitals currently have 370 patients facing the virus, with 95 in intensive care. That’s the fewest ICU cases in Maryland since there were 94 on March 29. The state has reported fewer than 120 ICU patients each day since Aug. 11, falling below 100 on five of those days.

Despite Wednesday’s low count of new cases statewide, 4.23% of the tests reported Wednesday returned a positive result, the fourth day so far in September in which Maryland’s single-day positivity rate exceeded 4%. There were seven such days in all of August.

Maryland’s reported that its seven-day testing positivity rate was 3.7%, up slightly from Tuesday. But Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus resource center pegged Maryland’s seven- day testing positivity rate much higher at 6.1%.

Hopkins calculates the rate differently than the state. Its positivity rate means 6.1% of the individuals tested during the past week received a positive result for the first time. The state derives its figure using the proportion of positive results among all tests conducted. That means multiple tests on the same individuals are counted in the state’s formula — but not Hopkins’ — as long as they are not performed the same day at the same location.

Maryland has the 25th lowest seven-day testing positivity rate among states, according to Hopkins.

Cecil County joined fellow Eastern Shore counties Caroline, Wicomico and Worchester as the only four of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions with seven-day positivity rates exceeding 5%, by the state’s measure. Prince George’s County, the state’s leader in total cases, is next closest to that mark at 4.75%.

Nearly a third of Maryland’s 2.1 million completed tests have been performed on residents who had already been tested for the virus. Of the 1.4 million Marylanders who have been tested, 8% have received at least one positive result.

Maryland’s seven-day positivity rate for residents under 35 years old fell below 5% Wednesday, but the state’s younger demographics continue to represent a large portion of new cases. Of the new 336 confirmed infections, 43% were in residents at least 10 years old but younger than 30, an age range representing 26% of Maryland’s overall population, according to U.S. census data.

But the virus remains deadliest to older citizens. Six of the nine latest victims were at least 80 years old, another was in their 70s, and the remaining two were in their 50s.

Fewer than 14% of the state’s cases have been in residents or staff members of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, but those groups represent more than half — 2,140 — of Maryland’s virus-related deaths. There were 268 such cases and 10 deaths reported in the past week. More than 6,800 nursing home-related cases are considered active, meaning they are linked to facilities where there has been at least one new confirmed case in the past two weeks.