COVID-19 In Maryland: State Surpasses 2 Million Booster Shots
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- More than 2 million Marylanders have received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to data released Saturday by the Maryland Department of Health.
The state has administered 2,007,492 boosters, 10,838 in the past 24 hours.
Gov. Larry Hogan released a statement touting the milestone and called it "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.
The number of hospitalizations continued to fall, dipping below 1,900 one day after the metric fell below 2,000 for the first time since late December.
According to the health department, 1,811 residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, down 168 patients from Friday. There are 1,476 adults in acute care and 319 in intensive care. Ten children are in acute care and six are in intensive care.
The state added 2,391 more COVID-19 cases and the percentage of people testing positive dipped to 10.26%, according to the data.
Maryland's COVID-19 death toll now stands at 13,175 after an additional 44 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.
State officials and health care leaders are encouraging residents to keep up good habits such as masking, social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, and getting vaccinated and boosted.
The state has confirmed a total of 952,271 cases since the start of the pandemic. The positivity rate has decreased by 0.67% over the past 24 hours.
Maryland is now 25 days into a 30-day state of emergency Hogan issued this month in response to elevated infections and hospitalizations, which pushed several hospitals to near- or at-capacity levels.
Gov. Hogan issued an executive order on Monday that aims to shore up hospital and nursing home staffing by allowing certain nursing students to practice at health care facilities. It also lets respiratory therapy students 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.
There are 4,384,939 Marylanders fully vaccinated and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 94.5% of the state's adults have gotten at least one dose. When you factor in children age 5 and older, 88.8% of the population has gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.
The state has administered 11,020,143 doses of the vaccine.
Of those, 4,627,712 are first doses, 4,218 in the last 24 hours. Another 4,052,950 are second doses, 3,880 in the past day. A total of 331,989 Marylanders have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 107 in the past day.
