Maryland was removed from New York state, New Jersey and Connecticut’s coronavirus travel advisory, which had either asked or required individuals who visit those states to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The state was removed from the travel lists Tuesday, about a week after originally being put on there.
“When other states and territories make progress fighting COVID-19, that’s good for New York and while I am glad to see areas removed from the travel advisory list, it still remains far too long,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release.
Maryland ranks 22nd among states in tests per capita, according to Johns Hopkins data.
The state has a total of 117,888 confirmed infections and 3,712 deaths since the first COVID-19 cases were recorded in the state in March.
Maryland also reported 347 patients currently hospitalized with the virus, down from Tuesday’s 371. Among those hospitalized, 86 are in intensive care, seven fewer than Tuesday.
The state’s seven-day testing positivity rate — a statistic measuring the percentage of positive tests over a weeklong period — was 3.44%, as compared with Tuesday’s 3.62%. Maryland has reported its seven-day testing positivity rate to be below 4% every day since Aug. 8 and under 5% since June 26.
The 5% figure is significant because the World Health Organization recommends governments record 14 straight days of positivity rates below 5% before pulling back on COVID-19 restrictions. Maryland has been below that mark for more than three months but started reopening before getting under 5% positivity.
