COVID-19 In Maryland: 662 New Cases As Hospitalizations, Positivity Rate Dropping

ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Maryland adds 662 coronavirus cases as hospitalizations and statewide positivity rate fall Tuesday morning.

There are now 978 Marylanders hospitalized, down 14 from Monday. ICU beds went down to 258 and there are now 720 people in acute care.

Thirty Marylanders have died related to the virus in the last day, bringing the state total to 7,580.

The state reports 377,628 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in Maryland, and the statewide positivity rate is now at 3.9% with 12,550 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

State officials revealed Tuesday that there are about 60 variant cases in Maryland, with the majority being the U.K. strain. The majority of the patients infected have no travel history, meaning the cases are being spread by community transmission.

With that announcement, Maryland officials said the state will enter an agreement with the University of Maryland Baltimore and Johns Hopkins to double state surveillance of COVID-19 variants to more than 10% of cases.

Maryland has administered over one million coronavirus vaccine doses since their efforts began in December. There were 9,580 first doses and 15,985 second doses received in the last day.

Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday the state's positivity rate has dropped 58% in less than two months. It's now the lowest since October.

Nursing home rates have also dropped 47%, the state says.

Here's a breakdown of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Maryland (probable deaths are listed with an asterisk):

In:
• Annapolis
• Maryland