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Maryland reports 613 new coronavirus cases, eight deaths Saturday

Baltimore Sun - 9/27/2020

Maryland reported 613 new coronavirus cases Saturday and eight new deaths attributed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The additions bring Maryland to a total of 122,972 confirmed cases and 3,780 deaths tied to the virus since the pandemic arrived in the state in March. The state has recorded single-digit death counts associated with the virus in 21 of the past 22 days.

State officials put the seven-day positivity rate, calculated as the percentage of positive tests over a weeklong time frame, at 2.56%, up from 2.51% a day before. That ends a seven-day streak when the positivity rate was the lowest yet seen in the pandemic.

However, Johns Hopkins University put the state’s positivity rate at 4.88%, the 24th-best among states. The university records testing positivity differently than Maryland, using the number of people tested as opposed to the total number of tests.

The World Health Organization recommends governments see 14 consecutive days with positivity rates below 5% before beginning reopening measures. Maryland’s reported rate has been below that figure for close to three months, but began its reopening before getting under the 5% mark.

The state reported Saturday that 347 people are currently hospitalized with complications caused by the virus, three more than on Friday. The total number of Maryland residents hospitalized since March totals 15,382.

State officials report that 1,461,328 people have tested negative for the virus to date, up by 11,203 since Friday, and 7,458 have been released from isolation.

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(c)2020 The Baltimore Sun

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