A nursing home in Mount Airy, Md., had 66 residents test positive for coronavirus and 11 have been hospitalized in what officials called the state’s first major outbreak.
In a statement Saturday night, Gov. Larry Hogan said “multiple state agencies are on the scene” at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Carroll County.
“I want to thank all of the doctors, nurses and first responders all across out state who are working around the clock to respond to this pandemic,” Mr. Hogan wrote.
“As we have been warning for weeks, older Marylanders and those with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable and at a significantly higher risk of contracting this disease.”
Also Saturday, the state’s death toll from COVID-19 doubled from five to 10.
Mr. Hogan maintained his stance of “call[ing] for Marylanders to stay at home, except for essential reasons” while stopping short of issuing a stay-at-home order as other states have done.
“It took nearly three weeks for the National Capital Region to go from 0 to 1,000 cases of COVID-19,” Mr. Hogan noted in his statement. “It took three days for the region to go from 1,000 to 2,000 cases in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. This is a rapidly evolving and escalating emergency which is now surrounding the nation’s capital.”
On Saturday evening, the D.C. Department of Health announced an additional 38 new cases of COVID-19. In a late-breaking update Saturday night, the department also announced the District’s fifth death from coronavirus, a 55-year-old man.
As of Saturday evening, the D.C. metropolitan region has recorded 31 deaths and over 2,000 positive cases of COVID-19, with 342 in the District, 739 in Virginia and 992 in Maryland.
The District has 51 cases and Maryland 32 cases that are in recovery, while the Virginia Department of Health did not “have that information to share at this time.”
• Sophie Kaplan can be reached at skaplan@washingtontimes.com.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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