3 MD Counties In Red Zone: White House Coronavirus Task Force

MARYLAND — Three of Maryland's 23 counties are in the red zone when it comes to the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said in a recent report. Red zones have more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents and a diagnostic test positivity result of above 10 percent.

The reports, while not made public by the task force, have been obtained by The Center for Public Integrity. The most recent report made available is dated Nov. 29.

Overall, Maryland is showing signs of a continued viral surge, the report said, and is in the red zone for COVID-19 cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population, with the 35th highest rate in the country. Maryland is in the yellow zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 5.0 percent and 7.9 percent, with the 42nd highest rate in the country.

Three counties had the highest number of new cases over the last three weeks of November:

• Baltimore County
• Prince George's County
• Montgomery County

These counties represent 44.7 percent of new cases in Maryland. Sixty-seven percent of all counties in Maryland have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 12 percent having high levels of community transmission (red zone).

The report also notes that during the week of Nov. 9 - 15, 20 percent of nursing homes had at least one new resident who was diagnosed with the coronavirus, 36 percent at least one staff member who was diagnosed with the disease and 3 percent had at least one new resident who died of COVID-19.

As a result of the accelerating outbreak, the report offers several recommendations to help slow the pandemic's expected post- Thanksgiving surge:

• If you are over 65 or have significant health conditions, you should not enter any indoor public spaces where anyone is unmasked due to the immediate risk to your health; you should have groceries and medications delivered. If you are under 40, you need to assume you became infected during the Thanksgiving period if you gathered beyond your immediate household. You must isolate away from anyone at increased risk for severe disease and get tested immediately.
• It is essential to prepare for and limit a post-Thanksgiving resurgence. Improved public observance of social distancing measures is urgently needed to limit overrunning hospital capacity and preventable deaths.
• Limiting travel throughout the next several weeks is an additional key mitigation measure. The governor’s continued personal guidance and forward leaning positions on these measures are critical and are commended.
• Short-term mitigation interventions, including restricting indoor dining and limiting and/or closing areas of congregation without masking, will be needed.
• Additional measures should be taken, including communications to reinforce messaging around social gatherings throughout the ongoing holiday season. Maximizing control of transmission now will also allow for greater and earlier resumption of business activity in addition to limiting cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
• Efforts to identify and reduce asymptomatic transmission should run concurrently with testing of symptomatic persons and contact tracing of cases.
• Expand strategic use of point-of-care antigen tests for all individuals that gather across households.
• Proactive testing must be part of the mitigation efforts inclusive of universal masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and the active promotion of activities in outdoor settings. Mitigation measures to limit transmission in personal gatherings need continued strengthening.
• Ensure increased frequency of long-term care facility testing and rapid implementation of
• vaccination into LTCF as vaccine becomes available.
• Ensure all K-12 schools are following CDC guidelines, including mask wearing, and ... routinely test all teachers as another indicator of the degree of community spread.
• Ensure all universities planning to bring students back to campus after winter break move to mandatory weekly testing of all on and off campus students.

The latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report for Maryland comes as cases continue to climb throughout the state.

Maryland on Saturday confirmed 212,384 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 3,193. Another 146 confirmed deaths were reported on Dec. 1st and 2nd, the highest two-day total since June.

The state had a positivity rate of 8.04 percent, an increase of 0.04 percent in the past 24 hours.

A total of 4,659 Marylanders have died from the disease, an increase of 29 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard.

Currently there are 1,598 patients hospitalized for treatment of the respiratory disease.

Read more:

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• MD Needs 2K To 3K Health Care Workers For COVID Hospital Surge

Spikes in new cases and tests come a little more than a week after Thanksgiving. Officials have urged people who traveled or gathered in large groups for the holiday to get tested for the virus.

"If your family traveled, you have to assume that you are exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week," Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said on the CBS show "Face the Nation" Sunday.

Find a coronavirus testing site in Maryland.

"You need to avoid anyone in your family with co-morbidities" or those over age 65, Birx said to those who may have been exposed, as older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at greatest risk of complications from the virus.

"We can expect to reach a new record high for hospitalizations in the coming days," Hogan said at a news conference Tuesday, when he announced Maryland was looking to prepare for the surge by filling 2,000 to 3,000 health care positions. In the past day, 21 additional patients have been admitted to Maryland hospitals for treatment of the virus, state officials said Friday.

The coronavirus primarily spreads from person-to-person contact, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding getting the virus by putting 6 feet of distance between one another to decrease the likelihood of its transmission as well as frequent hand-washing, staying home when sick and wearing a face covering when around other people.

With reporting by Kara Seymour