Maryland reported 1,158 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday for a total of 5,529, by far the single largest one-day jump the state has experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Larry Hogan said the 26% leap is due not only to an increase in infections, but also to more widespread testing. The Maryland Department of Health reported 5,677 tests came back negative in the past 24 hours.
“An increase in new infections is just one of the reasons for today’s significant jump in new cases. This is also due to our ongoing efforts to ramp up testing in Maryland, with more private labs coming onboard and the expansion of commercial lab capacity,” the governor wrote on Twitter.
“Today’s numbers reflect a tripling of the tests reported since yesterday. We are seeing commercial labs begin to clear their backlog of tests. More than 30% of the new cases reported today are for testing that was completed in March.”
Before Wednesday, the largest 24-hour increase in confirmed cases in Maryland was 484 reported on April 4.
Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, in the Washington, D.C., suburban area, have the most cases with 1,310 and 1,088, respectively. Baltimore County has reported 866, along with 571 in the city of Baltimore.
The state has seen 124 deaths from the virus, with an additional 21 reported Wednesday, while 365 patients have recovered and been released from isolation. Maryland had an estimated population of 6,045,680 in 2019, according to the Census Bureau.
An increase in new infections is just one of the reasons for today’s significant jump in new cases. This is also due to our ongoing efforts to ramp up testing in Maryland, with more private labs coming onboard and the expansion of commercial lab capacity.
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) April 8, 2020
Today’s numbers reflect a tripling of the tests reported since yesterday. We are seeing commercial labs begin to clear their backlog of tests. More than 30% of the new cases reported today are for testing that was completed in March.
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) April 8, 2020
The District of Columbia also saw its largest 24-hour increase with 229 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 1,440 positive cases out of a population of about 700,000. Twenty-seven people in the District have died from the virus. The D.C. Department of Health has not released data for how many tests came back negative.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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