Maryland’s death toll from the new coronavirus jumped by more than 100 Wednesday, as the state included probable deaths from the virus in its daily announcement of new cases and victims for the first time.
Another 47 victims who were confirmed to have the virus were added to the state’s count, with an additional 64 probable deaths announced. In all, 413 Marylanders are reported to have died from the virus.
[ [Here are the confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maryland] ]
“A death is classified as probable if the person’s death certificate lists COVID19 as the cause of death, but it has not yet been confirmed by a laboratory test,” tweeted Kata D. Hall, Gov. Larry Hogan’s deputy communications director.
Maryland also surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases of the virus Wednesday. An announcement of an additional 560 cases in the state brought Maryland to at least 10,032 residents who have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Tuesday’s announcement of 40 virus-related deaths previously marked Maryland’s single-day high and pushed the state past 300 victims. Wednesday marks the four-week anniversary of the state’s first confirmed coronavirus death.
Also for the first time Wednesday, Maryland’s reported race data included Hispanic cases and deaths as their own category; the group represents 13.8% of the state’s confirmed cases among those whose race is known, above U.S. census data that has Hispanic people as 10.4% of the state’s population. Race data is not available for more than a fifth of both the state’s confirmed cases and its confirmed and probable deaths.
African-Americans are 47.7% of the state’s confirmed cases in those whose race is known despite being 30% of Maryland’s. Thirty-four of the 64 probable victims were white, though those who are black represent the plurality of deaths among those whose race was known at 46.3%.
Age information was not available for 103 of the deaths in the state, but those at least 60 years old are nearly 90% of the remaining 310 victims who are believed to have died from the virus in Maryland.
This story will be updated.