Maryland added more than 2,600 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The state has had more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases daily for 33 straight days and has had more than 1,500 cases for 24 days in a row.
The state’s 7-day positivity rate remains above 8% for the third day. The rate has been more than 5% for 28 consecutive days, more than 6% for 23 straight days, and more than 7% for the past six days.
The number of patients currently hospitalized topped 1,000 for the 20th straight day and has been more than 1,500 for seven consecutive days.
Key points for today
• Kent County COVID-19 cases increased by 7 to 507, according to the county health department.
• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 7.22%.
• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 215,027, an increase of 2,643 in the last 24 hours.
• In the last 24 hours, 26 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,685.
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 decreased by 22 over the last 24 hours.
• There currently are 1,576 people hospitalized — 1,183 in acute care and 393 in intensive care.
• Of the 48,246 test results received Dec. 5, 6.74% were positive. The 7-day positivity rate was 8.14%.
For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.
Additional information
• A total of 4,685,476 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 2,225,595 people have tested negative.
• Of the state’s 215,027 cases, 22,095 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,785 have been released from isolation.
The graph below shows the average positivity rate for the five Mid-Shore counties.
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