Maryland health officials added 503 new cases of the coronavirus to the state’s tally Monday, pushing the total number of infections to 100,715.
The state also confirmed the deaths of two more individuals as a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, making for 3,504 fatalities overall. That’s the lowest number of new deaths reported since March 28, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s office said in a news release.
As of Monday, 435 people were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, a decrease of 40 people from the day before. The state reported 106 of those remain in intensive care, nearly a third fewer than on July 25, according to the governor’s office. More then 13,000 Marylanders have been hospitalized since the state started tracking the number of COVID-19 patients in March.
In a statement, Hogan said the state’s declining metrics can be attributed to his administration’s “early and aggressive” action and vigilance.
“We are doing much better than most of the rest of the country,” the Republican governor said. “I want to thank the people of our state for helping us keep Maryland safely open for business by practicing physical distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding travel to hotspots.”
After spiking in July, the state’s rolling 14-day average of newly reported cases has dropped every day since Aug. 3, reaching 684 on Monday.
The state measured its testing positivity rate at 3.27%, its lowest to date, though Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which calculates positivity differently, listed Maryland’s at 4.57%.
Maryland was one of 17 U.S. states and territories with positivity rates under the recommended 5%, according to Hopkins’ assessment. The Baltimore-based research and medical institution reported Maryland’s positivity rate fell under 5% again on Saturday.
Though positivity rates can help track the degree of the virus’ spread in a community, the figure also can be misleading if it is the only metric closely followed, according to public health and infectious disease experts.
High positivity rates may indicate that the state is only testing the sickest patients who seek medical attention and is not testing enough individuals for it to have a representative sample. A low rate of positivity in testing data can be seen as a sign that a state is testing enough of its population to make informed decisions about reopening.
There is no federal standard for how states should calculate positivity rates. While the state uses the number of positive tests divided by the total testing volume to determine its rate, Hopkins divides the number of confirmed cases by the number of people tested, which means an individual who has been tested multiple times will be used only once in the calculation.
The country has more than 5.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, and over 179,000 people have died in the United States due to the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Statewide, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties lead all other jurisdictions in the number of cases and deaths confirmed. Combined, the two counties account for over 43,000 of the state’s infections.
Out of all of Maryland’s jurisdictions, only Prince George’s County has a positivity rate higher than the recommended 5%, according to Hogan’s office.
There are more cases among Black Marylanders than any other reported racial or ethnic group, according to the state’s data. Despite constituting less than 30% of Maryland’s population, Black people make up nearly 32% of all known cases and more than 40% of the reported fatalities. Hispanics and Latinos in the state have also been disproportionately affected, making up less than 10% of the state’s population but about 25% of the confirmed infections and 11% of the related deaths.
The state does not have racial or ethnic data for more than 15,000 individuals who have contracted the coronavirus.
People aged 50 and below make up the majority of the cases in Maryland while older adults, especially older than 80, account for most of the deaths. Adults between 20 and 39 years of age account for over 36,000 total infections.
But, the positivity rate among Marylanders under 35 has steadily declined over the last three weeks, according to Hogan’s office, from more than 40% July 23 to 4.05% now. The positivity rate among Marylanders over 35 is 2.83%.
In all, over 1.1 million Marylanders have now been tested for COVID-19, representing nearly 20% of the state’s population.