COVID-19 In Maryland: As Delta Variant Spreads, Johns Hopkins and City Health Officials Try to Help More Baltimoreans Get Vaccinated

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — Five more Marylanders have died as a result of the coronavirus as 505 new COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday, according to the Maryland Health Department.

As the dangerous Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread across the country, the Baltimore City Health Department and Johns Hopkins Medicine continued on Thursday to try to get more Baltimoreans vaccinated.

Since the pandemic began, there were 467,435 total confirmed cases and 9,599 deaths in Maryland. The current positivity rate is 2.58%.

Medical staff and city officials hosted a mobile vaccination clinic outside Northeast Market in the afternoon, to try to bring the vaccine to areas of the city where the vaccination rate is low.

"We travel to areas of low vaccine and then try to go to areas that are high traffic that people are already things in the midst of their daily lives," said Ben Bigelow, Director of the Johns Hopkins Mobile COVID-19 Vaccine Team.

Data available from the Baltimore City COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed that only 37 percent of the people in the zip code where the mobile clinic was held, 21205, are fully vaccinated.

Staff at the clinic also answered questions about the vaccine.

"That's what we're trying to do, is have a conversation to answer questions, alleviate any misinformation and move people to get vaccinated," said Michael Preston, Director of East Baltimore Community Affairs for Johns Hopkins University and Medicine.

Over 40 doses have been administered at this clinic over the last two weeks.

Both local leaders and Johns Hopkins staff said that now it is more important than ever to get vaccinated.

Hospitalizations increased Thursday in Maryland. There are 215 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with 160 in acute care and 55 in the ICU.

"COVID Delta is highly infectious," said Baltimore NAACP President Rev. Kobi Little. "More infectious than all the other variants and people who are not vaccinated are the ones who are getting very sick from this virus."

Organizers said that they were hoping that with each person who got their shot at the clinic would encourage others to get vaccinated.

As of July 29, city vaccine data showed that 56.5 percent of Baltimore's 18+ population is fully vaccinated.

There are now 3,551,313 Marylanders fully vaccinated. The state has administered a total of 7,159,317
doses. Of those, 3,608,004 are first doses with 6,923 administered in the past 24 hours. They have given out 3,279,615 second doses, 4,581 in the last day.

The state reported 77.1% of all adults in Maryland have received at least one dose of the vaccine Tuesday.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: 

• Coronavirus Resources: How To Get Help In Maryland
• TIMELINE: Coronavirus In Maryland, Tracking The Spread And Vaccinations
• Latest coronavirus stories from WJZ
• Latest CDC Guidelines

Here are the latest numbers in Maryland:

By County

By Race

By Age Range and Gender

By Ethnicity

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• Maryland
• COVID-19