Maryland Cases of COVID-19 are high again but no alarms: but hospitalizations are low

Cases of COVID-19 in Maryland are high again, but risks are not. Here’s why. COVID-19 cases in Maryland are on the rise again, but severe cases remain low. Baltimore Sun

COVID-19 cases began rising again around Maryland last month and have exceeded 1,000 each day for the past two weeks. There were 1,330 reported Wednesday, the most since early February, when the state was coming off the massive omicron surge.

That’s enough to push the percentage of tests coming back positive in the state above 5%, a threshold that public health experts say indicates infections are widespread.

There are also likely far more cases going unreported because more people are testing at home or are not testing at all.

Still, the rise in cases has not triggered any new official protective measures, or seemingly, alarm.

That’s because the rise in infections hasn’t yet translated into a deluge of severe cases. Hospitalizations remain relatively low in Maryland with 219 in acute care or ICU beds reported Wednesday, a fraction of the 3,452 reported during the pandemic peak in January.

“Hospitalizations are indeed rising,” said Bob Atlas, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association. “But COVID patients represent just 3.3% of all patients in our hospitals, one of the lowest percentages since we began tracking in April 2020.” ....