Health Department Data Shows How Marylanders Are Coping With COVID-19
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- More than 4 million Marylanders have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and nearly half as many have received a booster shot, according to data released by the Maryland Department of Health on Sunday.
State data shows that 4,630,479 Maryland residents have received the first dose of one of the vaccines and 4,055,722 have received a second dose.
That data also shows that 2,015,732 Marylanders have received a booster shot with 8,240 of them boosted within the past 24 hours.
Gov. Larry Hogan has said that it is "critically important" for eligible Marylanders to get the booster shot if they haven't already done so.
"Getting a booster shot is the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself, your family, and your fellow Marylanders from this virus and its variants," he said.
There have been 224,590 COVID-19 cases among fully vaccinated Maryland residents, according to the Maryland Department of Health. Less than 5.59% of those Maryland residents who have been fully vaccinated later tested positive for COVID-19, per department data.
The state added 1,941 more COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours and the percentage of people testing positive dipped to 9.87%, according to the data.
Maryland's COVID-19 death toll now stands at 13,208 after an additional 33 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.
State officials and health care leaders are encouraging residents to maintain good health habits such as wearing face masks, practicing social-distancing, avoiding large gatherings, getting vaccinated, and getting booster shots.
Maryland is now 26 days into a 30-day state of emergency Hogan issued earlier this month in response to elevated infections and hospitalizations, which pushed several hospitals to near- or at-capacity levels.
Hogan issued an executive order on Jan. 24 that aimed to shore up hospital and nursing home staffing by allowing certain nursing students to practice at health care facilities. The order makes it possible for respiratory therapy students to assist with EMS response.
In recent weeks, the state has ramped up its testing operations in an effort to keep up with public demand. That includes opening 20 new testing sites statewide with support from the Maryland National Guard.
The state has administered 11,020,143 doses of the vaccine.
