COVID In Maryland: More Than 1.4K New Cases And Hospitalizations Increase Friday

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland added 1,457 new coronavirus cases and 16 more deaths as the state's positivity rate continued its rise Friday morning.

Hospitalizations went up by 32 to 1,045; with 251 in ICU beds and 794 in acute care.

The state has now recorded 414,385 confirmed cases and 8,134 deaths related to the virus. The state's positivity rate is up by 0.09%, now at 5.6%.

Harford County has the distinction of having the highest positivity rate in the state at 9.87%.

"It's a little alarming," Harford County resident Dale Swiney said. "I just think everybody needs to wear their masks, continue to do what they are supposed to do."

The county, which once had one of the lowest case rates in Maryland, is now trying to reverse course with a robocall.

"Remember, you can stop the spread by avoiding crowds and following these simple steps," the call says.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he wondered if the state opened up too soon.

"There are three counties in the red zone, we had no counties in the red zone when the governor made his announcement on the eighth," Elrich said. "So the situation in the state has gotten worse, the situation in the county has gotten worse."

"So we meet almost every day with our team of experts and epidemiologists and we are following the science," Gov. Larry Hogan said "We don't think it had anything to do with reopenings. As I mentioned, the worst cases right now are in New York and New England. New York has some of the strictest
lockdowns and much more things are closed there than we have here."

This time of year, families usually gather for Passover and Easter,  health professionals are begging you to think twice.

"Every vaccination is a victory in the fight against COVID, but every party every visit to an unvaccinated friend or family member, every time you leave the house without wearing a mask you're potentially pushing us one step back," Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said.

Maryland conducted 37,145 coronavirus tests in the last day, with over 8.8 million tests conducted throughout the pandemic so far.

Meanwhile, as numbers continue to tick up, 1,043,360 Marylanders were fully vaccinated for the virus as of Friday.

Maryland has administered 2,836,766 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far, with 1,793,406 first doses and 960,985 second doses administered in total. Of those, 38,437 first doses and 33,134 second doses were given out in the last day.

They have administered 82,375 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines so far, with 5,019 since Thursday.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: 

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

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.

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