The Maryland Department of Health on Thursday newly reported more than 500 coronavirus-related deaths that medical certifiers had “not properly classified” over the past year, pushing the state’s total number of COVID-19 deaths over 9,000.
The health department said there were 517 previously uncounted confirmed cases with COVID-19 listed as the cause of death. There were also 21 cases in which COVID-19 was the probable cause of death.
“When necessary, our epidemiologists make adjustments to reported health data as information is reviewed, verified, and corrected,” MDH Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services Dr. Jinlene Chan said in a statement. “It is important for medical certifiers to closely follow CDC guidance when reporting COVID-19 deaths. This data is critical for the public and the public health community, and our systems and processes are designed to ensure accuracy and transparency in our reporting to the public.”
With the addition of the 517 previously unreported deaths, as well as five other deaths reported since Wednesday, Maryland’s coronavirus death toll rose to a total of 9,368 COVID-19 fatalities as of Thursday morning.
The state also has a total of 213 deaths that were probable cases of COVID-19.
At least 459,095 Marylanders have tested positive for COVID-19, while 3,465,982 have tested negative as of Thursday morning, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s COVID-19 Case Map Dashboard.
Maryland’s confirmed coronavirus caseload grew by 217, an increase of about 0.05%.
The number of Marylanders currently hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday dropped below 400 for the first time since Nov. 2 when the state had 396 current coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
Of the 399 Marylanders currently hospitalized due to coronavirus, 298 are in acute care and 101 are in intensive care.
The number of acute care patients dropped by 14 while the number of intensive care patients fell by 19, marking a net decrease of 33 fewer people hospitalized with coronavirus compared to Wednesday.
Maryland has recorded a total of 43,168 coronavirus-related hospitalizations to date.
The state has completed 10,329,805 coronavirus tests to date, with 23,747 test results reported in the past 24 hours.
Over the last seven days, an average of 1.84% of the state’s COVID-19 tests have come back positive.
The seven-day average rate of positive tests yesterday was 2.1% for Marylanders younger than 35 and 1.64% for Marylanders older than 35.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported that 69.1% of Marylanders age 18 and older have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
A total of 2,836,207 Marylanders have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, state data showed on Thursday.
Of the two-dose vaccines, Maryland has administered a total of 3,176,308 first doses and 2,605,562 second doses.
In the past 24 hours, providers have administered 14,274 first doses and 24,747 second doses.
Maryland providers have also administered single-dose vaccines to a total of 230,645 people, including 950 doses that were reported in the past 24 hours.
As of 10 a.m. Thursday, there have been 84,910 confirmed cases in Prince George’s County; 70,769 in Montgomery County; 65,513 in Baltimore County; 52,785 in Baltimore City; 43,700 in Anne Arundel County; 19,743 in Frederick County; 19,188 in Howard County; 16,537 in Harford County; 14,557 in Washington County; 10,831 in Charles County; 9,472 in Carroll County; 7,660 in Wicomico County; 6,991 in Allegany County; 6,285 in Cecil County; 6,013 in St. Mary’s County; 4,214 in Calvert County; 3,630 in Worcester County; 2,991 in Queen Anne’s County; 2,825 in Dorchester County; 2,607 in Somerset County; 2,340 in Caroline County; 2,157 in Talbot County; 2,030 in Garrett County; and 1,347 in Kent County, according to the dashboard.
Of Maryland’s confirmed cases, 25,847 are people age 9 or younger; 47,305 are people ages 10-19; 84,176 are people ages 20-29; 78,640 are people ages 30-39; 68,426 are people ages 40-49; 68,343 are people ages 50-59; 45,500 are people ages 60-69; 25,003 are people ages 70-79; and 15,855 are people age 80 or older.
Maryland has identified 240,169 of the confirmed COVID-19 patients as female and 218,926 as male.
Of the Marylanders who have tested positive for COVID-19, 142,404 are Black, 11,088 are Asian, 162,186 are white, 69,460 are Hispanic, 21,407 are another race, and data is not available for the remaining 52,550.
Nationwide, there have been at least 33,192,280 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, including at least 591,957 deaths. The U.S. has administered 288,660,011 coronavirus vaccine doses to date as of 10 a.m. Thursday, according to a real-time dashboard created by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
