Anne Arundel Has Most Coronavirus Hospitalizations Since May

ANNE ARUNDEL, COUNTY, MD — Anne Arundel County tallied more than 1,000 coronavirus cases for the third straight week, but the number of infections-per-day started to decline. Still, the county is reporting about twice as many cases-per-day as its summertime high.

Last week's 1,155 infections are down from the week prior, which saw record-high of 1,280 cases. The virus killed two county residents last week, the Maryland Department of Health said.

Hospitalizations continue to swell. The county's positivity rate, on the other hand, is 1.25 percentage points less than the statewide average.

Here is a look at how Anne Arundel County's coronavirus metrics are trending as the fall surge takes hold in Maryland.

Coronavirus Case Rate

Health officials focus on several metrics to evaluate the coronavirus pandemic. The most frequently-used are the case rate, hospitalizations and percent positivity.

The case rate is a per-capita measure that makes it easy to compare places with different populations. A jurisdiction's case rate is the average number of new coronavirus infections-per-day that it registers over a rolling week per 100,000 people.

As a barometer, Maryland health officials say expanded in-person classes are probably safe when the local case rate dips below 5. Anne Arundel County's case rate spiked to a high of 33.34 on Nov. 20.

The case rate has since fallen to 27.4. That suggests that infections may be starting to slow, but the case rate is still nearly six times greater than the county's goal.

Anne Arundel's case rate hit previous highs of 13.4 on June 3 and 14.26 on Aug. 2. It reached a low of 3.53 on June 26, but it's been an upward climb since then.

Hospitalizations

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations are still trending upward, however. They are down from their April 21 high of 172, but hospitalizations have seen a sharp increase in recent weeks.

The disease left 106 Anne Arundel County residents hospitalized on Sunday. That's up 28 from the week prior. Friday's 107 hospitalizations were the most since since May 26.

The county had fewer than 50 hospitalizations between June 14 and Oct. 18. They hit an overall low of 21 on Sept. 21.

Covid ActNow, a coronavirus statistics website, estimates that Anne Arundel County has 50 beds in the intensive care unit. Hospitals need to save some of these beds for emergencies that aren't related to coronavirus.

On Sunday, Anne Arundel had 29 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's up 15 from this time last week.

Friday's 30 ICU hospitalizations were the most since June 3. ICU usage maxed out at 49 on May 13 and receded to 4 by Aug. 24.

Positivity Rate

After several rough weeks, the county's positivity rate has started to decline. This is the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive over a moving seven days. The statistic also measures whether an area has enough tests to identify most of its infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a positivity rate of less than 5 percent demonstrates that a region has enough testing to control its outbreak. The Maryland Department of Health says hybrid learning should be safe when jurisdictions fall beneath this benchmark.

Anne Arundel County's positivity rate reached 6.41 percent on Nov. 18, which was the highest since June 18. By Sunday, however, the positivity rate fell to 5.61 percent, which is down by .15 percentage points from last week.

The positivity rate is also down from its April 16 high of 28.16 percent, but it's up from its Aug. 16 low of 2.29 percent.

The county stayed beneath the 5 percent positivity threshold for 137 days. That streak, which started on June 22, came to an end on Nov. 7. The local positivity rate dipped below 5 percent for three days last week, but it has since increased.

Total Cases And Deaths

Anne Arundel County's 16,742 coronavirus infections are the 5th most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 286 county residents.

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• Coronavirus Holiday Season May Be 'A Little Depressing': Pittman
• AACPS Delays Hybrid Classes; Anne Arundel Coronavirus Cases Surge

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