With 43 new cases of COVID-19 reported by the health department Thursday, Carroll County is on track for about the same number of cases as last week, which finished as the county’s highest weekly total since January.
The Carroll County Health Department has reported 141 total COVID-19 cases through Thursday. At the same point last week, the number was 144.
Carroll finished with 228 cases last week — the most since the week of Jan. 24, which was the last time Carroll eclipsed 300 cases — after the previous week saw 208 cases. That had followed two consecutive weeks of 154 cases. The county’s weekly case totals have remained flat or increased the past five weeks after seven consecutive weeks of declines following the post-holiday peak of more than 500 cases the week of Jan. 3.
Carroll’s testing positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that returned positive results over the past seven days, dropped to 6.35%. It has been over 5% — the threshold the World Health Organization recommends jurisdictions stay below before lifting restrictions — since March 22 after dipping as low as 2.45% on March 4.
Carroll’s case rate per 100,000 people per day, reported as an average over the past seven days, dropped to 19.17. The rate had been as low as 7.46 in early March after peaking at 47.58 on Jan. 11.
There were no fatalities Thursday after six deaths had been reported over the previous six days. All 43 new cases were community cases.
Around the state
Maryland health officials reported 1,297 coronavirus infections Thursday, bringing the state’s pandemic case count to 421,823. There have been at least 1,000 new cases in seven of the past nine days. Twenty-one more people were reported dead from COVID-19, meaning the disease has caused 8,224 fatalities in Maryland since health officials began to track it in March 2020.
Though new daily cases remain elevated, the state’s average testing positivity rate declined for a second day in a row, dropping by 0.15 percentage points to 5.56%.
Vaccine
The Carroll County Health Department is currently scheduling appointment-only vaccination clinics for people in all phases through 2B, including essential workers in 1C who live or work in Carroll, residents ages 60 to 64 (2A) and those younger than 60 with health conditions (2B) soon. They are continuing to prioritize those ages 65 and over. When a clinic is less than a week away and is not full, the health department will share the link online to allow Carroll County residents in eligible groups to register.
For those who would like to preregister for vaccination through the Carroll County Health Department, complete the appropriate form online at cchd.maryland.gov/covid-19-interest-forms or call 410-876-4848. All Marylanders ages 16 and older can now preregister for an appointment at a mass vaccination site by visiting covidvax.maryland.gov or calling 1-855-MD-GOVAX (1-855-634-6829). During preregistration, Marylanders can choose their top two preferred sites.
According to health department data, more than 57,000 Carroll residents have had at least their first dose of vaccine.
Community cases
Carroll has reported 7,257 cases of community members who have tested positive — 3,722 women and 3,535 men. Age group data:
0-9: 289
10-19: 867
20-29: 1,285
30-39: 1,017
40-49: 972
50-59: 1,348
60-69: 874
70-79: 420
80-89: 160
90-99: 25
Total cases
Carroll has reported 8,481 total COVID-19 cases. ZIP code data (those with fewer than seven cases are not listed):
21784 (Eldersburg/Sykesville): 2,117
21157 (Westminster): 1,892
21158 (Westminster): 1,028
21771 (Mount Airy): 670
21074 (Hampstead): 614
21102 (Manchester): 532
21787 (Taneytown): 504
21048 (Finksburg): 442
21776 (New Windsor): 231
21797 (Woodbine): 149
21104 (Marriottsville): 125
21791 (Union Bridge): 100
21757 (Keymar): 65
Probable cases
In addition to the confirmed cases, Carroll also reported 19 new probable cases, making a total of 2,790 probables since the beginning of the pandemic. These are patients who test positive using a rapid antigen test, rather than a molecular test like those offered at state-run testing sites. The health department doesn’t consider these results to be confirmed cases.
Hospitalizations
Two more community members from Carroll were hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing that number to 486 since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 at Carroll Hospital rose to 33, seven more than the 26 reported Tuesday. The metric had been down to three on March 9. A week later it was 11, and then the number doubled to 22 by the last full week in March.
Baltimore Sun reporter Alex Mann contributed to this article.
