Maryland Officials Urge Local Jurisdictions To Test At Least 10% Of Population For COVID-19
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Maryland health officials are urging county leaders to step up local COVID-19 testing efforts and meet the goal of testing 10 percent of their populations.
"As part of our COVID-19 testing expansion, Maryland continues to make large quantities of specimen collection kits directly available to local health departments. Given that the state has a long-term strategic supply of tests, there is no need to stockpile these resources or turn away our allocations," said MDH Secretary Robert Neall and Deputy Secretary Fran Phillips in a letter. "Instead, we ask that your local health departments use these tests to increase the number and capacity of community-based testing sites. We urge you to make every effort and come up with innovative ways to provide your residents and businesses with open and convenient access to testing,"
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The state will soon begin publishing testing volume data by jurisdiction on their coronavirus page so that Marylanders can track local progress.
Maryland has currently tested 7.4 percent of the population, officials said Thursday. They said the state continues to make large quantities of testing supplies directly available to local health departments.
Baltimore City leads large jurisdictions with 8.5 percent of the population tested.
"Widespread testing is critical to saving lives and safely reopening more and more of our economy, which is why state health officials are setting a goal of testing 10% of the population in all of our 24 jurisdictions," said Governor Hogan. "The State of Maryland will continue to have an abundant supply of testing available at no out-of-pocket cost to anyone in our state who needs to be tested, and we are looking to our county leaders to do their part by expanding testing efforts at the local level."
There are now nearly 170 major COVID-19 testing sites available in Maryland. Visit coronavirus.maryland.gov to find a location.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
