Hospitalizations Near April High As Vaccine Reaches Anne Arundel

ANNE ARUNDEL, COUNTY, MD — After a period of slowing coronavirus cases, infections shot back up last week. In brighter news, more than 10,000 locals have gotten their first dose of the vaccine.

Still, Anne Arundel County tallied more than 1,000 coronavirus infections for the seventh straight week. The county is reporting about three times as many cases-per-day as its summertime high.

Last week's 1,710 infections are up 175 from the week prior. The virus also killed 39 county residents over the past two weeks, the Maryland Department of Health said.

Hospitalizations are approaching their springtime high, and the positivity rate has tripled since its August low. Here is a look at how Anne Arundel County is handling the surge.

Vaccine Update

Vaccines are starting to trickle into Maryland. The state tallies the number of people who have gotten the immunization on this website.

The data are reported by region, not by county. Anne Arundel County is part of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, which also includes these places:

• Baltimore City
• Baltimore County
• Carroll County
• Harford County
• Howard County

So far, 11,935 people have gotten their first shot in this area. That's 0.43 percent of the population.

It's going to be a while before the vaccine has widespread circulation. The rollout will happen in four phases: 1A, 1B, 2 and 3.

Medical frontliners will be the first to get the inoculation in stage 1A. First responders and folks in long-term care facilities are also at the top of the list.

This means residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted living centers will be included in the initial wave. Infections tend to spread rapidly in these congregate living spaces.

After the 800,000 people in group 1A are vaccinated, the state will enter phase 1B. This allows other high-risk residents to get their shots.

Marylanders with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease or heart conditions can get vaccinated during this period. Adults living in other shared homes are the last residents eligible in this round.

Stage 2 opens the door to employees in critical fields. Marylanders working in education, child care, transit and utilities are among those eligible in the second portion of immunization.

The remaining residents can get the coronavirus inoculation in the third and final phase. For more information on Maryland's plan, click here.

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 42.77.

That's up by 5.7 from this time last week. Still, the current case right is lower than it's overall high of 48.78, set on Dec. 13.

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 soaring. Hospitalizations are nearing their April 21 high of 172, and they are still above their summertime lows.

The disease left 150 Anne Arundel County residents hospitalized on Sunday. That's up five from the week prior. Wednesday's 161 hospitalizations were the most since April 22.

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 33 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's up one from this time last week. Last Monday's 37 ICU hospitalizations were the most since May 24.

ICU usage maxed out at 49 on May 13. It receded to 4 by Aug. 24. ICU beds then hit a recent high of 30 on Nov. 27.

Positivity Rate

The county's positivity rate is back on the rise. 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 8.63 percent on Sunday, which is up by 0.81 percentage points from this time last week. The county's percent positivity is the highest it's been since June 2.

The positivity rate is 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 23,634 coronavirus infections are the fifth most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 339 county residents.

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Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.