'Fourth Wave' Of Coronavirus Is In Harford County: Health Officer

MARYLAND — A surge in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is causing concern for health officials in Harford County.

"I believe our fourth wave, our fourth spike, is being driven by younger people who were not yet vaccinated, engaging in behaviors that spread the virus," Harford County Health Officer Dr. David Bishai said. "Seniors over 65 are not participating in the fourth wave, and we attribute that to vaccinations."

People ages 15 to 60 are the ones getting the virus during the recent surge, he reported.

"We are suffering severe disease — enough to get hospitalized from COVID, and we're worried," Bishai told the Harford County Council Tuesday. "If you don't get this fourth wave turned around, we're going to lose our ability of our hospitals to stay open for anyone else who needs them."

Hospitalizations are "very high," according to a leader with the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, who also reported virtually during the council meeting.

"The number of COVID patients in our hospitals remains very high,” Colin Ward, chief operating officer and senior vice president of Upper Chesapeake, said Tuesday. "As of this morning, there were 44 patients with COVID at our two hospitals, and for point of reference, we had just 19 COVID-positive patients on March 6."

Those who are being hospitalized are for the most part unvaccinated, the health officer said.

"Hospital admissions per day are quite high for Harford County — higher than most other counties — because we're getting more COVID than most other counties," Bishai said. "These hospital admissions are mostly not seniors; they're mostly people under age 68 who have not yet been vaccinated."

Harford County leads the state in its coronavirus positivity rate and has the second highest case rate per 100,000 residents in the state, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

The most recent coronavirus positivity rate in Harford County was 9.29 percent, Bishai said Tuesday, stating: "We're having a fourth wave of test positivity."

"Positive tests we're seeing in the county [are] in the young people between 15 and 60," Bishai said.

The coronavirus positivity rate is down slightly to 8.76 percent Wednesday in Harford County, while the statewide positivity rate ticked up slightly to 5.69 percent.

After Harford, the next highest positivity rate in Maryland is Somerset County, followed by Cecil County.

Positivity rates should be at or below 5 percent for two weeks for an area to relax restrictions, according to the World Health Organization.

New cases started rising among one age group before spreading to others in Harford County in the second half of March, according to the county's health officer.

"The group between [age] 15 to 24 is really leading this epidemic," he continued.

Starting March 19, Bishai said that members in this age bracket began to see a spike in new cases of the virus, followed by those age 25 to 44 and then those 45 to 60 years old.

"We're looking into the contact tracing to see what the 15 to 24-year-olds were up to at this time," Bishai said.

The case rate in Harford County is the third highest in the state as of Wednesday, April 14.

Harford County's case rate is 32.05 per 100,000. Leading the state is Baltimore City at 43.11, followed by Baltimore County, which has a case rate of 35.26 per 100,000.

When an area exceeds 10 new cases per 100,000, community spread has accelerated and is at dangerous levels, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute. If the case rate is greater than 25 per 100,000, officials say community spread is out of control and may require measures to curb the infection.

While case rates, hospitalizations and positivity are up, Bishai said one metric provided a silver lining.

"There are some deaths in the county — still about a one every week or so, but it's much better than it used to be," Bishai said of the number of people dying from COVID-19.

As of Wednesday, April 14, state health data shows 257 Harford County residents have died of coronavirus.

"We had the highest amount of deaths around January, and that has calmed down, and that is great news," Bishai said. "I attribute this to our great coverage of seniors with vaccines."

All adults age 16 and up are eligible to be vaccinated in Maryland as of April 12. Get more information on the COVID-19 vaccine from the Harford County Health Department.