Maryland’s COVID-19 positivity rate is the lowest since late September

Baltimore Sun - 5/12/2021

The state’s COVID testing positivity rate dropped to its lowest level since last fall as other key metrics Maryland is using to track the pandemic continue a downward trend.

Wednesday, Maryland health officials reported 471 new cases of the coronavirus.

Here’s where things stand with COVID-19:

Cases

Earlier this week, the state reported the lowest daily total since summer 2020, 276.

Wednesday’s case total is higher, but it’s still a far cry from the daily case counts in April, which soared as high as 1,840.

In total, Maryland health officials have reported 454,271 cases of COVID-19 in the state since the pandemic started.

Deaths

Wednesday, state health officials reported nine more people dead as a result of the virus.

It’s the ninth straight day that officials have reported fewer than 15 deaths from COVID-19.

In the winter, when the pandemic was at its worst, Maryland was averaging as many as 44 deaths per day.

In total, 8,678 Marylanders have died from the virus.

Hospitalizations

On the whole, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maryland has been declining since April 21, when it was above 1,200.

Wednesday, it declined from 799 people to 770.

About 29% of those people required intensive care.

In sum, more than 42,000 Marylanders have received care in hospitals for COVID-19 complications.

Positivity Rate

Tuesday, the state reported the seven-day average testing positivity rate fell below 3% for the first time since October. And Wednesday, it remained below that mark, falling to 2.74% from 2.88%. That’s the lowest it’s been since Sept. 29.

Vaccinations

State officials said Wednesday that providers have administered 50,901 new doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

That includes 13,768 first doses in the two-shot regimen required by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and 35,883 second doses. It also includes 1,250 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In sum, 48.3% of Marylanders have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 40.2% are fully vaccinated against the virus.

This story will be updated.