Positivity Rate Above 5% As Officials Say Young People Are Driving Maryland's COVID Case Spike

ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Maryland added 903 coronavirus cases as the state's positivity rate moved above 5% Tuesday morning.

There are now 409,978 coronavirus cases confirmed in the state since the pandemic began. Thirteen more Marylanders have died, bringing the total to 8,088.

The statewide positivity rate now sits at 5.24%, up .25% since Monday. The state conducted 11,905 coronavirus tests in the last day.

Hospitalizations are down slightly by 10, now at 1,029. Of those, there are 245 in ICU beds and 784 in acute care.

As of Tuesday morning, 938,802 Marylanders are fully vaccinated. They have administered 2,619,551 doses. Of those 1,680,749 first doses and 868,103 second doses have been received. In the last day, 27,750 first doses were given out and 26,178 second doses are out.

The state continues to administer single-dose vaccines, with 70,699 doses administered- 1,116 in the last day.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: 

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• TIMELINE: Coronavirus In Maryland, Tracking The Spread
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The State's acting health secretary, Dennis R. Schrader says young people are driving this increase in cases.

"We're monitoring the age of the people, and we're finding that younger people are getting ill and it's probably natural younger folks, as we've opened, are more likely to be out and about and getting sick," Sec. Schrader said.

In mid-March, the governor lifted capacity limits on religious facilities, gyms, restaurants, bars, retail businesses, among other facilities; but masks are mandatory and social distancing still needs to be practiced.

Now that the positivity rate is back above five percent, Senator Clarence Lam wanted to know if this will lead to new restrictions.

"This is a very flat curve. It has gone up but it's been fairly flat in terms of its growth so we don't want to overreact. We are monitoring very carefully but it has generally been the younger population that is getting sick," Sec. Schrader said.

"That's true," Sen Clarence Lam rebutted, "But the younger population we've seen ends up affecting the older population and that's where most of the deaths have been occurring and I'm concerned we are re-opening faster than we can vaccinate."

The governor said the state will now administer more than 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine daily. This announcement came on the same day Maryland entered phase 2B, where more people will become eligble to get a vaccine. Under phase 2B, anyone who is 16 and older with a disability will become eligible.

Despite that progress, the CDC director says there's "impending doom" if Americans get too lax.

"I so badly want to be done, I know you all so badly want to be done, we're just almost there, but not quite yet. And so, I'm asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can, so that all of those people that we all love will still be here when this pandemic ends," says
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

In:
• Baltimore
• Baltimore City