COVID-19 In Maryland: Positivity Rate Over 9%, 27 New Deaths Reported
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland's positivity rate is now over 9%, with over 2,100 new cases and twenty-seven new COVID-19 related deaths on Sunday, according to the State Department of Health.
LATEST: State Positivity Rate Continues To Climb Above 9%, Hospitalizations Rising
A total of 2,148 new cases were reported in the state, bringing the total number of cases to 285,319. Twenty-seven more Marylanders also died from the virus, bringing the death toll to 5,826.
Hospitalizations went up by 17 to 1,709 in the last 24 hours and the statewide positivity rate went up to 9.15%.
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More than 5.8 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in the state since the start of the pandemic.
A total of 59,769 have been vaccinated. That's still less than 1% of Maryland's population.
Dr. Matt Poffenroth at Lifebridge Health said that about 70% of the entire U.S. population will need to be vaccinated in order to achieve widespread immunity.
Right now, not even 10% of Americans have any kind of immunity, meaning this effort will likely take many more months.
Former Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said on December 30 that part of the holdup is because of a lack of national strategy and guidance for state and local health departments.
"I think that Americans understand that vaccine distribution is going to be extremely complicated and they'll understand missteps but we at this point want honesty, we want for the federal government to say hey, these are the barriers we encountered, here's how we're going to go about fixing them and course correcting," Dr. Wen said.
The state is now seeing its highest seven-day positivity rate since June 2 at 9.15%.
Dr. Matt Poffenroth is the chief physician executive at Lifebridge Hospital. He said in order to end the pandemic, you have to achieve what's called herd immunity.
"Where you have enough people that are immune to the virus that the virus will start dying out because it won't have a host that it can live in," Dr. Poffenroth said.
This requires vaccinating anywhere from 70-80% of the population.
In Maryland, this starts with frontline healthcare workers.
Dr. Poffenroth said the majority of his staff is signed up or has already been vaccinated.
"It feels like it's sort of a ray of hope and we can't vaccinate people quickly enough," Dr. Poffenroth said.
And while more people are in the hospital, he said that PPE is in ample supply and that treatment options have improved.
WJZ also spoke to the doctor about flu numbers this year. He said there hasn't been any spike in the flu this year, and that less than 1% of ER admissions are related to the flu.
Here's a breakdown in Maryland:
By County
| County | Cases | Deaths | |
| Allegany | 5,513 | (154) | 0* |
| Anne Arundel | 25,365 | (356) | 13* |
| Baltimore City | 32,317 | (700) | 21* |
| Baltimore County | 39,608 | (922) | 29* |
| Calvert | 2,337 | (45) | 1* |
| Caroline | 1,370 | (10) | 0* |
| Carroll | 5,354 | (165) | 5* |
| Cecil | 3,718 | (75) | 2* |
| Charles | 6,229 | (127) | 1* |
| Dorchester | 1,420 | (23) | 0* |
| Frederick | 11,868 | (190) | 8* |
| Garrett | 1,496 | (52) | 1* |
| Harford | 8,856 | (167) | 4* |
| Howard | 11,564 | (175) | 6* |
| Kent | 767 | (26) | 2* |
| Montgomery | 47,575 | (1,095) | 43* |
| Prince George's | 56,028 | (1,070) | 27* |
| Queen Anne's | 1,736 | (27) | 1* |
| Somerset | 1,845 | (22) | 0* |
| St. Mary's | 3,372 | (89) | 0* |
| Talbot | 1,236 | (8) | 0* |
| Washington | 8,633 | (154) | 2* |
| Wicomico | 4,843 | (79) | 0* |
| Worcester | 2,269 | (49) | 1* |
| Data not available | 0 | (46) | 1* |
By Age Range and Gender
| Age/Gender | Cases | Deaths | |
| 0-9 | 13,047 | (1) | 0* |
| 10-19 | 25,897 | (4) | 1* |
| 20-29 | 52,657 | (27) | 1* |
| 30-39 | 50,090 | (62) | 6* |
| 40-49 | 44,144 | (176) | 4* |
| 50-59 | 42,917 | (451) | 20* |
| 60-69 | 28,737 | (904) | 17* |
| 70-79 | 16,476 | (1,471) | 30* |
| 80+ | 11,354 | (2,727) | 89* |
| Data not available | 0 | (3) | 0* |
| Female | 149,779 | (2,818) | 82* |
| Male | 135,540 | (3,008) | 86* |
By Race and Ethnicity
| Race/Ethnicity | Cases | Deaths | |
| African-American (NH) | 82,325 | (2,135) | 60* |
| Asian (NH) | 5,954 | (188) | 7* |
| White (NH) | 93,353 | (2,813) | 86* |
| Hispanic | 49,088 | (574) | 14* |
| Other (NH) | 13,153 | (63) | 0* |
| Data not available | 41,446 | (53) | 1* |
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.