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 57 straight days and more than 1,500 cases for 48 days in a row.
The state’s 7-day positivity rate is 8.22%, marking the second day in a row that rate has been above 8%.
The rate has been more than 5% for 52 consecutive days, more than 6% for 45 straight days, and more than 7% for the past 30 days.
The number of patients currently hospitalized has topped 1,000 for 45 straight days and has been more than 1,500 for 32 consecutive days.
Key points for today
• Kent County COVID-19 cases increased by 4 to 722, according to the county health department.
• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.46%.
• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 273,689, an increase of 2,628 in the last 24 hours.
• In the last 24 hours, 45 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 5,681.
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 31 over the last 24 hours.
• There currently are 1,756 people hospitalized — 1,346 in acute care and 410 in intensive care.
• Of the 40,279 test results received yesterday, 8.77% tested positive; the 7-day average positivity rate was 8.22%.
For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.
Additional information
• A total of 5,672,680 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 2,516,856 people have tested negative.
• Of the state’s 273,689 cases, 26,447 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 9,302 have been released from isolation.
The graph below shows the average positivity rate for the five Mid-Shore counties.
David Atlas says
I read with great interest most every day the percentage of Kent County’s population who have been tested. Right now, it is 55.65% or 10,786 people. It seems logical that this number, 10,786, is the number of Covid tests performed since the pandemic took hold early this year. This appears to primarily a result of citizens who must get frequently tested for their work. The percentage relationship to the total number of Kent County residents is far lower in the percentage of the county population. If you could assess how many unique individuals have ever been tested in Kent County, either once or several times, I believe the percentage tested would be surprisingly low. Maybe you could pose that question to someone who knows?
A similar issue is reporting the total number of cases, which is bound to increase. It would be far better to report how total cases since March, along with the number of no longer active cases and the number of currently active cases. Those statistics would give the public much more guidance in the trajectory of this pandemic. We don’t have 722 cases of currently ill people in Kent County. Nearly all of them have recovered. What is the use of the big number?
I realize the Spy is not in charge of statistics from the State or County, but you have the ear of the right people way better than I do. Possibly, they could give us facts that mean more and might scare us a little less. We all can use good news along with the truth.
Anna says
This resource, drawn from data collected by Johns Hopkins, provides the estimated number of currently active cases at the county level, as well as the number of cases diagnosed within the past 14 days: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=ad46e587a9134fcdb43ff54c16f8c39b
Beryl Smith says
Anna, thank you for that link. It is much more informative than what we have been getting.