BALTIMORE — Maryland reported 14,316 new coronavirus cases Thursday, a record number of infections for a 24-hour period for the second consecutive day and the fifth time this month. The state also recorded 55 more fatalities.
There have been more than 700,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic in Maryland, according to health department data.
The virus has continued to surge at an unprecedented rate thanks to the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Roughly 1 in 98 Marylanders has tested positive for the coronavirus in the last week.
Meanwhile, the 55 deaths reported by the state Thursday are the most in a 24-hour period since Jan. 26, when Maryland was fighting the last major virus surge.
Some 549 Marylanders have been reported dead from the coronavirus throughout December with one day remaining, according to the health department.
With Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center joining the fray Wednesday night, at least eight hospitals in Maryland have resorted to crisis standards of care in the last week.
There were 2,122 coronavirus patients hospitalized across the state Thursday, 72 more than the day before, which was already the highest COVID-19 hospitalization mark recorded during the pandemic, according to the health department.
Hospital officials have said the influx of coronavirus patients, an estimated 3/4 of whom are not vaccinated, coincides with a busy flu season and is further complicated by a shortage of health care personnel.
Maryland’s average testing positivity rate eclipsed 20% Thursday — 20.63%, up 1.32 percentage points compared to the day before — for the first time since May 11, 2020, health department data show. The pandemic was barely two months old then, as the state confirmed the first three cases of COVID-19 on March 6, 2020.
At that point, testing was incredibly scarce.
Now, after dismantling much of its testing infrastructure to stand up vaccination sites at the beginning of this year, the state is again scrambling to meet a massive demand for nasal swabs.
The health department reported more than 63,000 new test results Thursday, bringing to approximately 400,000 the number of test results reported in Maryland over the last seven days. That’s enough for about one in every 15 residents to have been tested.
State and public health officials continue to urge those who have not yet been vaccinated or received their booster shots to do so, citing the alarming coronavirus metrics as a reason to act urgently.
Roughly 8,400 residents completed their first course of vaccinations over the last 24 hours, either by receiving their second dose of the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna or getting the single-shot inoculation made by Johnson & Johnson, according to the health department. The state reported 23,000 new booster shots Thursday.
Still, the state has struggled to convince those who remain unvaccinated to get inoculated, as its hovered around 70% of the population fully vaccinated, the data shows.
Maryland is nearing 1.6 million booster doses administered, enough to provide the best protection against negative or deadly virus outcomes to approximately 26% of residents.
Public health experts fear that’s not enough vaccine coverage to stave off the rapidly spreading omicron variant.
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