MARYLAND — State health officials reported the results from more than 8,000 coronavirus tests Sunday morning, as testing for asymptomatic people gets underway and new sites come online for coronavirus testing around Maryland. The Maryland Department of Health now offers a testing site locator on its website.
In Maryland 194,049 people have tested negative for the virus, authorities said Sunday morning — an addition of more than 7,200 since Saturday.
As of Sunday morning, the Maryland Department of Health reported 46,313 people have tested positive for the virus. More than 800 new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the last day.
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The state's positivity rate for the coronavirus is 19.2, based on Sunday's data. However, of the 8,035 new test results reported Sunday, 818 were positive, meaning the positivity rate from this batch was 10.18 percent. Experts hope that as more people are tested, the overall positivity rate will go down, so Maryland health officials can determine just how many people have the virus and work to contain it.
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Statewide 1,290 people are hospitalized with the virus as of Sunday morning, health officials say.
Admissions went down on the intensive care unit day-to-day, where 503 patients were being treated for the virus Sunday, compared with 524 people Saturday.
Both coronavirus-related hospitalizations and ICU patients have hit a low since the state began providing this data April 21.
Officials say 2,162 Marylanders have died from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus; lab results are pending for 115 others as of Sunday.
“This will help doctors diagnose and treat new cases more quickly," Hogan said, "and it will further increase the safety of our state for all citizens."
State health officials rolled out appointment-free testing at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Thursday. Within a little more than an hour, Baltimore County officials reported the site had reached capacity. It had 1,000 tests to administer for the day.
Baltimore County announced Friday it would begin testing residents without a doctor's order; however, people must call the county's COVID-19 hotline at 410-887-3816 to get an appointment.
The Glen Burnie and Hyattsville VEIP stations began offering appointment-free testing Friday, and the VEIP station in Clinton is expected to open next week with appointment-free testing as well.
Courtesy of Maryland Department of Health.Table by Patch. Source: Maryland Department of Health.
Since the first cases of the virus were confirmed March 5 in Maryland, officials say 7,939 people have been hospitalized due to the virus and 3,319 Marylanders have been released from isolation.
Maryland has reportedly deployed teams to conduct universal testing for nursing home residents and staff as well as workers at the state's two poultry processing plants.
Symptoms of the new coronavirus can appear two to 14 days after exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which lists the following as possible indicators of the illness: fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, muscle pain, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.
Health officials say most people with the virus will experience mild symptoms and can recover at home. Older adults and people of any age with serious underlying medical conditions may be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19, according to the CDC.
People should call 911 and seek immediate medical attention if they have trouble breathing, bluish lips or face, new confusion or inability to arouse and/or persistent pain or pressure in the chest.
