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June 19, 2025

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News COVID-19

COVID Infection Rates Plummet; Is The End in Sight?

February 16, 2021 by Maryland Matters

Controversy over the rollout of the Maryland’s vaccine distribution effort has obscured a dramatic decline in the spread of the virus.

Although infections, hospitalizations and deaths spiked after the holidays — just as public health experts predicted — Maryland and the rest of the nation have seen a steady and significant drop in all three areas in the last few weeks:

  • Maryland’s 7-day infection rate, which stood at 51.9 for every 100,000 people on Jan. 14, was 16.9 on Feb. 14.
  • Deaths have dropped from an average of 53 per day on Dec. 18 to 12 per day on Feb. 14.
  • Infections have plummeted from 3,792 per day on Dec. 4 to 722 on Feb. 15, an 81% drop.
  • Hospitalizations, which peaked at 1,952 on Jan. 12, stood at 1,113 on Feb. 15.
  • And Maryland’s rolling 7-day positivity rate dropped from 9.4% on Jan. 5 to 4.5% on Feb. 14, a decrease of just over 50%.

Nationally, the numbers are dropping as well, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Late last week, the country’s rate of new infections dropped below 100,000 per day for the first time since late October.

Despite the striking downturn, the CDC is warning Americans not to become complacent.

“Even with that progress, the daily numbers of new cases and deaths remain much higher than the first two peaks of the pandemic in the spring and summer of 2020,” officials cautioned.

Maryland officials — while buoyed by the improved metrics — are sounding similar themes.

“It’s not as though we have gotten to the point where we can relax at all,” said Dr. Clifford Mitchell, director of the Maryland Department of Health’s Environmental Health Bureau.

Mitchell said there are “still many, many people who have not been exposed, not been infected and who have not been vaccinated — and those people are absolutely still at risk, will continue to be at risk, because the virus isn’t disappearing.”

The drop in infections is one reason state and local leaders are under growing pressure to bring children back for in-person instruction and allow restaurants to resume indoor dining.

Montgomery County officials allowed restaurants to open at 25% capacity starting last Sunday, with a 90-minute limit.

But Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) urged patrons to double-mask while inside restaurants.

“When you’re sitting at a table talking and not eating, you need to have a mask on,” he said. “It is simply not safe to be in a restaurant unmasked. It’s not safe for you and it’s not safe for the people around you. So please be careful.”

Mitchell said people who have not been vaccinated — the vast majority of the population — remain at “significant risk” and need to be “very cautious.”

In addition, there is the danger posed by new COVID-19 variants, which have been found in Maryland.

“No virus, including coronavirus, stays still. They are constantly changing,” he said. “So I don’t anticipate that the virus will stop changing, which means — like influenza — the likelihood is that we will continue to be at risk of this, even if people have been previously infected.”

Vaccine distribution update

During their weekly meeting with Acting Health Secretary Dennis H. Schrader, members of the state Senate’s Vaccine Work Group were told that Prince George’s County’s vaccination rate continues to lag significantly behind the rest of the state.

The county represents approximately 15% of the state’s population but only 7% of the first-dose recipients, legislative analyst Mike Powell told the panel.

“They are the major outlier that I can see in [the data],” he said.

Schrader said the state health department is continuing to work with county health officials to contact residents and encourage them to sign up for an appointment.

He said the state has a pilot program with Reid Temple A.M.E. Church of Glenn Dale, which has a large congregation.

Schrader said there is no “silver bullet” in overcoming vaccine hesitancy, but that his team remains focused on its outreach to communities of color and lower-income neighborhoods.

Maryland officials participate in a weekly call with officials from neighboring states and the District of Columbia, and vaccine equity is a regular topic, Schrader said.

“We’re point-blank asking people: Tell us what the critical success factors are, so we can implement those,” he said.

Schrader reiterated that the department remains opposed to a single sign-up, noting that very few other states have such a system.

He said that many of the doses that are sent to Prince George’s are being used by residents from neighboring counties, particularly Howard and Montgomery.

“A very high percentage of Howard Countians are going out of county to go elsewhere, in addition to the fact that Howard County is getting more [doses] than other jurisdictions,” he said.

“What we’re learning is the migration patterns of people from county to county, we can’t control that. That’s the human behavior,” he added.

Several lawmakers told Schrader that their constituents were calling 211 to get vaccine sign-up information, as recommended by the department, but without success.

They also pressed him to provide more a detailed, county-by-county breakdown of the state’s vaccination distribution.

By Bruce DePuyt

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: COVID-19 Tagged With: coronavirus, Covid-19, deaths, hospitalizations, infections, maryand

Reports Look at Health Safety Issues at Nursing Homes Owned by Investment Firm

December 21, 2020 by Spy Desk

A report in the Washington Post today by Rebecca Tan and Rachel Chason included health safety issues at Peak Healthcare at Chestertown.

The Post joins Barron’s and other news sites that have been examining the Portopiccolo Group, an investment firm that owns and operates numerous nursing homes in several states, including across the Mid-Shore.

The Washington Post reported Dec. 21, 2020, that:

• Portopiccolo bought three Maryland facilities from Genesis HealthCare and others from Autumn Lake Healthcare, including its facility in Chestertown. (Autumn Lake’s Chestertown facility had a COVID-19 outbreak in mid-April, about a month before it was bought and rebranded as Peak Healthcare at Chestertown.)

• Employees at Portopiccolo-owned facilities said they were asked to work after testing positive for COVID-19 and said the company “scrimped on supplies, including cutlery, cleaning materials and clothing for residents.”

• Kent County health officials intervened at the Chestertown facility in mid-May after learning an infected employee was still working.

• The Chestertown facility was fined $730,000 for not fixing or reporting that its water heater was broken from July to September. The firm is disputing the fine.

According to an Aug. 6, 2020, report in Barron’s:

• The Portopiccolo Group, a private-equity firm, has bought numerous nursing homes since 2016 and its president and CEO, and Portopiccolo’s affiliated companies, own or operate about 100 facilities under dozens of names.

• The firm has focused on lower-quality nursing homes and its purchases have continued even as some of its facilities have dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks and staff shortages.

On June 12, 2020, The Charlotte Observer reported on nursing homes owned by Portopiccolo in North Carolina:

• At that time, a nursing home owned by Portopiccolo in Salisbury, N.C., had had the state’s worst COVID-19 outbreak.

• Two residents had sued the facility and its corporate owners, claiming it was understaffed by poorly trained workers and did not have necessary supplies.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: COVID-19 Tagged With: cases, coronavirus, Covid-19, deaths, infection control, infections, nursing homes, portopiccolo group

‘Just Wear the Damn Masks,’ Hogan Urges Marylanders

November 6, 2020 by Maryland Matters

Family get-togethers and “house parties” are the leading causes of infection

Amid clear signs that COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are increasing across Maryland, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) warned Thursday that the state is entering “a pivotal moment” in the fight against the virus. 

But he did not re-impose restrictions on business activity, travel or social gatherings. 

Instead, he implored residents to follow the established advice of public health professionals.

Speaking to reporters at the State House, in remarks carried on live television, Hogan used blunt language to shake precaution-weary Marylanders out of any complacency they may be feeling. 

Masks, he said, “are the single best mitigation strategy we have” for containing a virus that — as of Thursday — had killed 4,035 residents.

“It’s not that hard,” the governor said. “Just wear the damn masks.”

Hogan said Maryland’s positivity rate is lower than 42 other states — and it’s been below the CDC-recommended guideline of 5% for 133 consecutive days.

But he said the state has “entered the red zone” on another metric: Maryland now has 15 cases for every 100,000 residents, a 22% increase over last week. In addition, the 1,198 new cases reported on Thursday represented the highest single-day total since July 25. 

Eighteen Maryland counties now have case counts above 10 for every 100,000 people. 

“The warning lights are starting to flash on the dashboard,” Hogan said. “We cannot afford to let our guard down. … We should not and we cannot become complacent.” 

While he was not ordering any rollbacks on business activity or social interaction, Hogan — a businessman before entering politics — said would not hesitate to take any steps deemed necessary to protect public health and avoid a surge in cases that could overwhelm the state’s hospitals. 

The governor urged residents to:

• Wash hands frequently 

• Avoid travel to areas with high infection rates

• Avoid crowds

• Telework, if possible

• Exercise extreme caution with regard to holiday gatherings

Data gathered through the state’s contact tracing operation made clear that family get-togethers and “house parties” are the leading causes of infection, the governor said.

He urged local health departments and police to step up enforcement actions against businesses and individuals who flout state rules on masks and gatherings. And he said any jurisdiction that chooses a more cautious path on restaurants, stores and other business activity would have his “full support.” 

While he said it is “indisputable” that the nation has entered the third wave of infection, Hogan said Maryland has been preparing for just this moment for many months. He said the state has stockpiled equipment, opened field hospitals and streamlined credentialing for medical professionals in anticipation of a cold-weather spike. 

Dr. David Marcozzi, COVID-19 Incident Commander for the University of Maryland Medical System, echoed Hogan’s warnings about the importance of individual actions.

“We are entering a period of high risk in these next few months, as the virus spreads more easily when we gather indoors together,” he said. “Recent data is concerning.” 

Marcozzi said it’s important that people seek medical care if they feel ill and take all medications prescribed by their physicians for non-COVID conditions, to keep their health up. 

His voice cracked and he had to pause his remarks as recalled the loss of a friend to suicide — a reminder of the importance of mental health and reaching out to one another, he said. 

Hogan said improvements in treatment methods and therapeutics were making hospital stays shorter and less severe, though he expressed concern that — while the rise in new cases is most prevalent among young adults — the increase in hospitalizations is hitting mostly seniors. 

“The straight truth is that this virus will be with us well into next year,” he said. “In fact, our worst time may be over the next couple of months.” 

While he did not mention President Trump by name, Hogan mocked a series of false claims about the virus that sounded like the president’s many discredited musings and Twitter posts — like how COVID-19 would be gone “by Easter,” July 4th or “the day after the election.” 

“The people that said that were dead wrong,” Hogan declared. “There is a lot of disinformation and misinformation and people that aren’t taking it seriously.” 

By Bruce DePuyt

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: COVID-19 Tagged With: cases, coronavirus, Covid-19, deaths, Gov. Larry Hogan, hospitalizations, infections, Maryland, masks, positivity rate

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