Maryland reports 2,302 new cases

State also records 20 deaths tied to the virus

Maryland reported 2,302 new coronavirus cases Monday and 20 more deaths tied to COVID-19.

The state has now reported 2,000 or more cases for 10 of past 13 days after never doing so in a single day once before mid-November and has reported 1,000 or more cases for 34 straight days. Maryland had only seen 1,000 or more daily cases four times between early June and the beginning of this stretch.

Experts have said this week is when case increases from the Thanksgiving holiday will probably start showing up in coronavirus data. In recent days, Maryland reported its two highest daily case totals ever.

The statewide seven-day average case rate per 100,000 people ticked up to 43.9 Sunday from 34.44 as of the end of November.

After recording 195 coronavirusrelated deaths in the month of October, Maryland has added 705 such fatalities since Nov. 1.

The state reported 1,561 people hospitalized with virus-related complications Monday, 15 fewer than Sunday. More than 900 more people were hospitalized Monday with virus-related complications than there were a month ago .

Among those hospitalized, 388 required intensive care, five fewer than Sunday. ICU hospitalizations have more than doubled since they were 153 a month ago.

Deaths and hospitalizations can lag behind a surge in cases, as it can take weeks for some patients’ symptoms to worsen and for some to die.

The state’s 14-day daily new case average again set a pandemic high Monday, reaching 2,395 Monday, up from 959 just a month ago. Monday’s record high is more than double a spring high of 1,031.

Maryland’s 14-day average of new daily reported deaths was 29 Monday, the highest it has been since mid-June.

Among the people the state reported to have died from the virus Monday, 17 were 60 or older. Marylanders 60 or older have represented nearly 4,100 of the state’s death toll, or 87% of that total. In Monday’s new numbers, residents 60 or older represented a larger share of new cases than they have throughout the pandemic, with more than 21% of the new cases.

Four Marylanders in their 50s also were reported to have died from the virus, bringing that age group’s death total to 376, more than double the next-highest age group, residents in their 40s.

The state removed one death attributed to a person in their 40s.

The state’s two most populous counties, Montgomery and Prince George’s, combined for 15 of Monday’s newly reported deaths. During the pandemic, the two counties have combined to have seen nearly 1,900 virus deaths, or about 40% of the state’s total deaths.

Rural Western Maryland continues to be hit hard by the virus.

Allegany and Garrett counties have seen the most and third-most cases per 1,000 residents in the past 14 days statewide, according to The Baltimore Sun’s coronavirus data, at 22.84 and 17.06, respectively.

There has been about one case for every 17 Allegany County residents during the pandemic.

The county’s seven-day average case rate per 100,000 people was 198.41 as of Sunday, more than quadruple the statewide average of 43.9.

Allegany also reported two new deaths Monday, bringing the county’s death total to 89.

Garrett County’s seven-day average case rate per 100,000 people was 122.11 as of Sunday, close to triple the statewide average.

Somerset County, which had seen the highest seven-day average case rate per 100,000 people in the state in recent days, saw a steep decline in that figure, though its case rate Sunday of 145.56 was still second-highest among jurisdictions statewide. That figure was 181.25 last Wednesday.

The new numbers bring the state to a total of 217,329 confirmed virus cases and 4,705 deaths since March.

The state’s reported seven-day positivity rate was 7.89%, down from 8.14% Sunday.Before the past few days, that would have been the highest seven-day rate since early June. The state’s daily positivity rate reported Monday was 6.89%.