Maryland reports another pandemic-low positivity rate, 385 new cases, 8 new deaths

Maryland officials reported 385 new cases of coronavirus and eight new deaths associated with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Wednesday’s additions bring the state to 121,297 confirmed infections and 3,756 fatalities during the pandemic’s six months. Through Tuesday’s data, Maryland has the 24th most cases per capita and 12th most deaths per capita among states, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus resource center.

Maryland’s reported seven-day testing positivity rate, which measures the percentage of virus tests during a weeklong period that return positive results, was again a low for the pandemic at 2.60%, a decrease of .05 percentage points from Tuesday. The state has reported a rate beneath 4% every day since Aug. 8 and under 5% every day since June 26.

The World Health Organization recommends governments see 14 straight days of positivity rates beneath 5% before easing virus-related restrictions. Although Maryland has spent nearly three months under that threshold, it first began its reopening processes before hitting that benchmark.

Hopkins, which calculates positivity differently than the state, has Maryland’s seven-data positivity rate through Tuesday’s data as 5.15%, the 19th straight day that mark has exceeded 5% and the 24th lowest among all states. While Maryland determines positivity using tests conducted, Hopkins uses the people tested, meaning individuals who are tested multiple times, regardless of their result, are counted only once in the university’s calculation.

Maryland has performed the 24th most tests per capita, according to Hopkins.

The state reported 332 patients currently hospitalized because of the virus' effects, the second straight day that figure has increased by at least 19. Of those hospitalizations, 79 are requiring intensive care, a one-day increase of two.

This article will be updated.

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