#Maryland covid numbers update

“However, it is important to recognize that, even though COVID is now a permanent part of our lives, it does not mean that everything is back to a pre-pandemic ‘normal.’”ĭr. “Our current COVID numbers are reflective of what researchers have been predicting for a while: that COVID-19 is with us to stay and will become endemic like the flu, and we will likely seasonal rises in cases,” Lam added. It is important that, as we move away from daily reporting, we remember that COVID is not ‘gone’ and that it continues to be important to take reasonable risk reduction steps.”īut he also says the move to weekly reporting “seems reasonable” at this time. “Earlier in the pandemic, there was daily news reporting on our state’s COVID numbers, and it was a good reminder to the public of the need to take precautions. “The biggest concern may be the potential that this could signal that it is time to stop taking any precautions related to COVID,” Lam said in an email. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard), a public health physician, warned that the reduced reporting may lead to people relaxing COVID precautions.

The New York Times recently reported that while COVID cases and deaths have plummeted compared to recent years, “it’s always possible for a new variant to emerge and start another wave.” That said, in January, the association reported that hospitals were almost at capacity due to “another steep uptick in Marylanders needing hospitalization for COVID,” Maryland Matters reported at the time. They are currently seeing the lowest number of inpatients since the start of the pandemic in early 2020,” McClelland said in a written statement to Maryland Matters. “Hospitals track their COVID-19 patients, and patients overall, on a daily basis. Meghan McClelland, chief operating officer for the Maryland Hospital Association, said the changes in statewide COVID-19 data reporting should not be of concern. Maryland’s state reporting changes reflect “the new phase of COVID-19 that we are in today,” according to Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott in written statement last week.īut since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, the virus has gone through waves of low cases that then surge, so how did state health officials determine now is the time to reduce the frequency that data is published to the public?Īccording to Maryland’s health community and state officials, there are a variety of factors at play - currently low community risk, new antiviral therapies, and the presence of at-home COVID testing - that justify weekly reports of statewide COVID data. The weekly COVID reports are part of the department’s new COVID-19 web pages for information on vaccines, treatments, and testing, among other resources.

#Maryland covid numbers update

Now, the COVID dashboard for the state of Maryland will update on Tuesdays at 10 a.m.

The Maryland Department of Health has reduced the frequency that the agency will publish statewide COVID data to its public dashboard to just once a week, after about three years of reporting COVID-related hospitalizations, deaths, and case rates on a daily basis.

The state has recently shifted to a weekly COVID-19 data reporting dashboard. A computer screen displays the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention community COVID-19 levels in Maryland on Tuesday.