BALTIMORE _ As Maryland enters the second phase of reopening the economy, state officials reported Sunday that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations here dropped to its lowest number in eight weeks.
Health officials reported that 1,003 Marylanders were currently hospitalized with the virus on Sunday, or 56 fewer than the day before. That's a nearly two-month low, according to Michael Ricci, communications director for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
The 404 patients in intensive care on Sunday also represents a decline of 14 from the previous day.
As of Sunday, there are 57,973 cases of COVID-19 in Maryland, which represents an increase of 491 cases in the last 24 hours. Nine more people died because of complications from the illness, bringing the state total up to 2,625 fatalities.
Another key metric _ the number of people who tested positive for the disease _ continued to inch downwards from 8% on Saturday to 7.63% on Sunday, but still remains among the highest in the nation, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. It also is well above the 5% target rate for controlling the virus.
The state has conducted a total of 427,155 tests, as the availability of tests for the virus continues to ramp up statewide. So far, 306,830 people in Maryland have tested negative for the deadly virus.
