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 COVID-19 metrics continue to largely trend downward, although the number of new cases ticked up this week.

The daily number of newly reported coronavirus cases in Maryland dropped below 500 on Monday, and stayed below that mark on Tuesday and Wednesday but increased slightly both days. It then rose further, above 700 on Thursday and more than 800 on Friday.

State health officials on Friday confirmed 854 new cases of coronavirus, raising Maryland’s total count to 996,182 cases confirmed to date. The total does not include positive results from at-home tests.

Maryland’s seven-day average percentage of tests that come back positive is continuing to decline, reaching 3.3%. The average sat at 4.88% a week ago.

A total of 13,727 Marylanders are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 to date, with 112 deaths reported since last Friday.

There are also 261 residents whose deaths are suspected to be related to coronavirus.

Currently, 627 people are hospitalized in Maryland with COVID-19. This time last week, the state reported 913 coronavirus-related hospitalizations.

Among the initial coronavirus vaccine doses in Maryland, 4,116,036 second doses of a two-dose vaccine have been administered (68.082% of the state’s population) and 333,754 single-dose vaccine shots have been administered (5.521% of the state’s population).

To date, vaccination sites in Maryland have administered 2,130,293 booster shots.

Marcus Dieterle is the managing editor of Baltimore Fishbowl, where he covers the environment and education (among other topics). He helped lead the team to win a Best of Show award for Website of General...