This is a picture of CDC’s laboratory test kit for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). CDC tests are provided to U.S. state and local public health laboratories, Department of Defense (DOD) laboratories and select international laboratories. Photo courtesy of CDC.

Maryland’s coronavirus-related hospitalizations are below 400 and the state’s seven-day average positive test rate dipped below 2% this week.

The state’s average positivity rate for the previous seven days declined to 1.9% Wednesday and 1.85% Thursday. This time last week, the positivity rate was 2.78%.

The last time the positivity rate average was below 2% was in July 2021, although the state’s reporting of positive cases does not include positive results from at-home COVID-19 tests.

A total of 349 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday, down from 459 a week ago.

Since the beginning of the pandemic nearly two years ago, Maryland has confirmed a total of 1,003,908 positive cases of coronavirus. Of those, 3,346 cases were newly reported since last Friday.

A total of 13,908 Marylanders are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 to date, including 80 people whose coronavirus-related deaths were reported since last Friday. There are also 263 residents whose deaths are suspected to be related to coronavirus.

Maryland has administered a total of 11,391,359 coronavirus vaccine doses to date, including 2,183,139 booster shots.

The state has newly reported 27,801 booster shots in the last week.

Marcus Dieterle is the managing editor of Baltimore Fishbowl, telling the stories of communities across the Baltimore region. Marcus helped lead the team to win a Best of Show award for Website of General...