Vaccination Speeds Up In Prince George's, But Cases Are Up A Tad

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Last week, Prince George's vaccinated about twice as many residents as normal. That is progress coming from the county that still ranks last in immunization rollout across the state. Plus, the recently-authorized Johnson & Johnson inoculation should help Prince George's speed it up even more.

While the vaccine metrics improved slightly, new cases and deaths are up a tad. This disrupts months of steady decline, but the key health indicators are still well below their post-holiday levels.

On the other hand, hospitalizations have declined for two straight months. The positivity rate is also down.

Last week's 1,163 infections are up 129 from the week prior. The virus also killed 22 county residents last week, which is eight more than the week before, the Maryland Department of Health said. Here's a look at where the numbers stand in Prince George's County.

Vaccine Update

• Currently: 7.95 percent
• Trend: Up by 1.82 percentage points

The state tallies the number of Marylanders who have gotten the immunization on this website. So far, 72,297 Prince George's County residents have gotten their first shot. That's up by 16,605 from last week, and it's 7.95 percent of the population.

Prince George's County continues to have the lowest vaccination rate in the state. The second slowest jurisdiction, neighboring Charles County, has immunized 10.47 percent of its population.

Maryland has 24 jurisdictions, including Baltimore City. Kent County leads the way with 22.68 percent inoculation.

The second dose has reached 32,420 Prince Georgians. That's 10,492 more than a week ago, and it's 3.56 percent of all county residents.

For more information on Prince George's vaccination plan, click here. To see when you'll be eligible for the inoculation, read Patch's explainer. Check out our how-to guide to learn how to sign up for the shot.

Coronavirus Case Rate

• Currently: 18.27
• Trend: Up by 0.49

Health officials focus on several metrics to evaluate the coronavirus pandemic. The most commonly 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.

Prince George's County's case rate is still above its summertime low, but it has fallen to 18.27. That's up by 0.49 from this time last week.

The case rate has leveled off since Feb. 17 when it dipped to 17.61. That was the lowest since Nov. 5, 2020. The case rate has plummeted since Jan. 14, when Prince George's set a record high of 58.83.

The county's case rate hit a previous peak of 38.85 on May 7, 2020. It reached an all-time low of 7.57 on July 2, 2020.

Hospitalizations

• Currently: 136
• Trend: Down by seven

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations declined for the eighth straight week, but they are still soaring. The disease left 136 Prince George's County residents hospitalized on Sunday. That's down seven from the week prior, and it's the lowest since the week of Nov. 15, 2020.

Prince George's is easing down from its Dec. 27 peak of 217 hospitalizations, which were the second-most ever. The record high of 244 came in the week of May 3, 2020. Hospitalizations hit an overall low of 44 in the week of Sept. 20, 2020.

ICU Hospitalizations

• Currently: 52
• Trend: Down by 8

Covid ActNow, a coronavirus statistics website, estimates that Prince George's County has 122 beds in the intensive care unit. Hospitals need to save some of these beds for emergencies that aren't related to coronavirus.

Last week, Prince George's had 52 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's down by eight from the week prior, and it's the lowest since the week of Nov. 29, 2020. ICU hospitalizations peaked at 75 in the week of Dec. 27, 2020 after they bottomed out at 11 in the week of Aug. 2, 2020.

Positivity Rate

• Currently: 5.15 percent
• Trend: Down by 0.71 percentage points

The county's positivity rate decreased slightly. 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 said a positivity rate of less than 5 percent demonstrates that a region has enough testing to control its outbreak.

Prince George's County's positivity rate fell to 5.15 percent on Sunday, which is down by 0.71 percentage points from this time last week. The percent positivity hasn't been this low since Nov. 4, 2020.

The rate has declined since Jan. 3. That's when the positivity rate peaked at 11.92 percent, which was the highest since June 5, 2020. The positivity rate is down from its May 2, 2020 high of 41.95 percent, but it's still up from its Sept. 24, 2020 low of 3.46 percent.

Total Cases And Deaths

Prince George's County's 73,413 coronavirus infections are the most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 1,300 county residents.

RELATED:

• Hospitalizations Plunge As Prince George's Continues To Recover
• Coronavirus Vaccine: Prince George's County Lays Out Timeline
• How To Get Coronavirus Vaccine In Prince George's County
• Centralized Vaccine Sign-Up Proposed By MD Lawmaker
• Bowie Baysox Ready To Help Vaccine Rollout If Asked: Report

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.