Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 11

Hogan tightens COVID-19 restrictions

As COVID-19 trends in the state continue to worsen, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday re-imposed or reinforced public health restrictions.

According to Maryland Matters:

• Effective Wednesday at 5 p.m., the capacity for indoor operations at bars and restaurants will be reduced to 50%, with service only for customers who are seated and socially distanced, plus other precautions.
• The health department issued a new public health advisory strongly warning against any indoor gatherings of 25 people or more.
• The health department expanded an advisory against all out-of-state travel. Marylanders are strongly advised to avoid all nonessential travel to any state with a positivity rate above 10% or an average case rate of 20 cases per 100,000 residents.
• Thirty-five states have a case rate over 20, and eight states have a positivity rate over 10%.
• Effective immediately, all state employees who are approved to telework must once again do so. Private employers are encouraged to increase telework and do everything possible to increase distancing among employees who must be physically present.
• The state health department is also activating the next level of planning to increase hospital surge capacity by adding space in temporary hospital facilities and providing additional staffing support to nursing homes.
• New guidance from the health department says that all visitors to nursing homes should be tested for the virus, that gatherings should be avoided and that nursing homes should create stockpiles of protective equipment.

• The 7-day positivity rate for Nov. 10 was 5.6%; the third consecutive day in which that rate topped 5%. The 5% threshold is a reopening guideline set by the Centers for Disease Control. The World Health Organization has said rates should remain at 5% or below for 14 consecutive days before officials should allow reopening.

• As of Wednesday morning, 805 patients were hospitalized for coronavirus; that number last topped 800 on June 12.

• Maryland has had more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for eight straight days.

Key points for today

• Kent County COVID-19 cases increased by 3 to 363, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.05%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 158,423, an increase of 1,714 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 16 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,100.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 44 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 805 people hospitalized — 612 in acute care and 193 in intensive care.

• Of the 27,257 test results received Nov. 8, the positivity rate was 7.53%; the 7-day positivity rate was 5.6%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,729,915 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,902,413 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 158,423 cases, 18,012 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,313 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.