BALTIMORE — Maryland reported 2,483 new coronavirus cases and 33 new deaths from the disease on the fourth day of the new year.
The state’s seven-day average positivity rate increased for the seventh day in a row to 9.47%. Before this week, the rate hadn’t been greater than 9% since June.
With Monday’s data, Maryland has now reported 287,802 coronavirus cases and 5,859 deaths from the illness.
On average, cases had been declining slightly as of mid-December, but have started to tick up again a week and a half after Christmas. Experts warned that holiday gatherings, coupled with cold weather, could increase cases and stress a hospital system already reeling in the 11th month of an unabating pandemic.
The state reported conducting 35,493 tests as of Monday, up a bit from Sunday’s reported total of 26,480. On Thursday and Friday, closer to 50,000 tests were announced, and more cases were reported on those days, too — about 2,900 and then roughly 3,500. Testing volume data typically lags 24 hours behind newly reported cases.
Most of the highest positivity rates in Maryland are in counties on the lower Eastern Shore. Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties all reported seven-day average positivity rates between 13% and 16%. Only Washington County in Western Maryland reported a higher rate Monday — 17.32%.
This represents something of a shift from late 2020, when Western Maryland counties Allegany and Garrett frequently had the highest rates.
Meanwhile, Kent County on the upper Eastern Shore reported on Monday the lowest seven-day rate, at 6.32%, followed by several counties in the Baltimore region: Howard at 6.86 %, Baltimore City at 7.43% and Baltimore County at 7.64%.
As of Monday, 1,751 Marylanders were hospitalized due to the virus, up from Sunday, when 1,709 people were in state hospitals with COVID-19.
Hospitalizations have hovered close to 1,700 for weeks. For several months in the late summer and early fall, they didn’t top 600.
The latest data comes as states across the country are rushing to inoculate health care workers, armed with two federally approved vaccines.
The state on Monday reported administering 2,112 vaccines, down from 3,617 people reported vaccinated the day before. So far, Maryland has administered 65,692 vaccines, covering about 1% of the state population.
The state’s vaccine distribution efforts have recently come under fire. A report from Bloomberg released last week indicated Maryland was distributing vaccines the slowest, having only doled out 10.9% of its allocated doses.
In the Baltimore region, including Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, about 1.28% of the population has been vaccinated, state data shows. The Baltimore region accounted for about 37% of the state’s newly reported infections on Monday.
The highest percentage of people have been vaccinated in the Eastern Shore region — 1.5%. That region reported under 8% of Monday’s new coronavirus cases in Maryland.
The lowest percentage of vaccinations — .58% — is in the populous “National Capital Region,” which includes Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. That region reported about 45% of Monday’s new coronavirus cases.
