Vaccine Update: 5 Percent Of Prince George's Has Gotten The Shot

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Coronavirus metrics are plummeting in Prince George's County. New infections are a fraction of their January peak, and hospitalizations continue to decrease.

The main trouble area remains vaccine hesitancy. Prince George's County brought in leading immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci last week to answer common questions about the vaccine.

Other residents are eager to get the immunization but are left waiting because of a limited supply. Some lawmakers complained about the difficulty of registering. Another leader called Maryland's vaccine rollout "racially discriminatory."

Last week's 1,437 infections are down 240 from the week prior. The virus also killed 30 county residents last week, which is four 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: 5.3 percent
• Trend: Up by 1.24 percentage points

The state tallies the number of Marylanders who have gotten the immunization on this website. So far, 48,179 Prince George's County residents have gotten their first shot. That's up by 11,282 from last week, and it's 5.3 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 already immunized 7.76 percent of its population. Kent County leads the way with 19.98 percent inoculation.

The second dose has reached 15,038 Prince Georgians. That's 7,149 more than a week ago, and it's 1.65 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: 18.79
• Trend: Down by 7.56

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 18.79. That's down by 7.56 from this time last week, and it's the lowest since Nov. 8, 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: 174
• Trend: Down by 25

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations declined for the sixth straight week, but they are still soaring. The disease left 174 Prince George's County residents hospitalized on Monday. That's down 25 from the week prior, and it's the lowest since the week of Nov. 29, 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: 58
• Trend: Down by 11

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 58 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's down 11 from the week prior, and it's the least since Dec. 6, 2020.

This ended the county's three-week streak of rising ICU numbers. 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: 5.74 percent
• Trend: Down by 1.9 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 5.74 percent on Monday, which is down by 1.9 percentage points from this time last week. The percent positivity hasn't been this low since Nov. 7, 2020.

The rate has steadily 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 71,216 coronavirus infections are the most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 1,264 county residents.

RELATED:

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• Coronavirus Vaccine: Prince George's County Lays Out Timeline
• How To Get Coronavirus Vaccine In Prince George's County
• Vaccine Sign-Up Frustrates Marylanders; Leaders Want Single Form
• Fauci Combats Coronavirus Vaccine Hesitancy Among Marylanders

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.