Maryland’s COVID-19 health metrics continued to show signs of improvement this week, although most of the state still is experiencing high levels of community transmission of coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported that 23 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions are experiencing high levels of community transmission. Prince George’s County is experiencing “substantial” levels of community transmission, slightly lower than the state’s other counties.
For the fourth day this week, Maryland health officials have reported fewer than 1,000 new daily coronavirus cases, with 731 newly confirmed cases on Friday. The daily new cases were below 1,000 Monday through Wednesday, rose above that mark Thursday, then dipped below again on Friday.
Before this week, the daily amount of new cases had not been below 1,000 cases since Dec. 6.
At its peak one month ago, the state recorded 17,252 new cases on Jan. 9.
Maryland has confirmed a total of 968,648 coronavirus cases to date, including 6,843 reported since last Friday.
The state’s seven-day average positivity rate dipped below 5% for the first time since Nov. 28. It now sits at 4.88%, down from the average of 6.69% a week ago.
A total of 13,615 Marylanders are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, including 218 residents’ deaths that were reported since last Friday.
There are currently 913 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maryland, down from 1,378 coronavirus-related hospitalizations this time last week.
COVID-19 hospitalizations fell below 1,000 this week for the first time since early December.
Among the initial coronavirus vaccine doses in Maryland, 4,096,160 second doses of a two-dose vaccine have been administered (67.754% of the state’s population) and 333,177 single-dose vaccine shots have been administered (5.511% of the state’s population).
To date, vaccination sites in Maryland have administered 2,094,463 booster shots.
Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday called on the Maryland State Board of Education to rescind an emergency regulation requiring the wearing of face masks in schools. He cited the state’s improving COVID-19 health data and the opinions of some medical professionals, including former Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen.
But other doctors, while optimistic about these positive trends, have urged caution. Those experts have said lifting mask mandates is a premature move.
