Anne Arundel Shatters Single-Day Coronavirus Infection Record

ANNE ARUNDEL, COUNTY, MD — For the second straight week, Anne Arundel County tallied more than 1,000 coronavirus infections. This week's 1,280 cases broke the county's previous record of 1,083, which it set last week.

Wednesday's 271 infections were the most that Anne Arundel has registered in a single day. The county's previous high of 197 came on Nov. 13.

Anne Arundel County is now reporting twice as many cases-per-day as its summertime high. Hospitalizations are also swelling to their steepest clip in months.

Eight more locals died from the virus this week. The county's falling positivity rate offers a slice of good news, however.

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 has spiked to 33.1. Friday's rate of 33.34 was the county's highest mark since the pandemic started.

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 have also pointed upward. They are down from their April 21 high of 172, but hospitalizations have seen a sharp increase in recent weeks.

The disease left 78 Anne Arundel County residents hospitalized on Sunday. That's up 18 from the week prior, and it's the most since since June 8.

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 15 patients in the ICU with the virus. ICU hospitalizations have started to plateau since their recent high of 22 on Nov. 7.

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 Wednesday, which was the highest since June 18. By Sunday, however, the positivity rate fell to 5.76 percent.

That's 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.

Total Cases And Deaths

Anne Arundel County's 15,587 coronavirus infections are the 5th most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 284 county residents.

RELATED:

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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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