ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Nearly 42,000 people filed for new unemployment claims in Maryland last week, the state’s labor department reported Thursday.
Last week’s 41,941 filings were down from 53,464 the week before.
The latest number of filings come a day after protesters rallied in front of the labor department in Baltimore to call for a better state response to requests for claims. Residents have endured difficulties, both in navigating a state website and reaching people for help.
The labor department said Thursday it has made progress in processing and paying claims. Of 537,348 complete claims received from March 9 to June 13, about 93.5% have been processed with about 75.4% receiving benefits, the department said. About $2.7 billion in benefits have been paid out in that time, the department said. About 18%, or 97,077, were denied benefits for not meeting state and federal program requirements, the department said.
“Our department recently implemented a fix that has led to substantial progress in processing unemployment insurance claims, resulting in tens of thousands of eligible claimants receiving their benefits,” Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson said. “However, there is still work to be done. Our department is committed to helping Marylanders through this pandemic and our team will not stop until we have served each and every one of our claimants.”
Meanwhile, the state reported 260 cases of the coronavirus for Wednesday, the lowest number of new cases since March 31. The number of intensive care cases also is reportedly at the lowest since April 5 at 269.
The statewide percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 has dropped to 5.43%. More than 535,000 tests have been conducted.
The state health department urged county leaders to increase local testing efforts to meet the goal of testing 10% of their populations.
“As part of our COVID-19 testing expansion, Maryland continues to make large quantities of specimen collection kits directly available to local health departments. Given that the state has a long-term strategic supply of tests, there is no need to stockpile these resources or turn away our allocations,” Robert Neall, the state’s health secretary, and Fran Phillips, the state’s deputy secretary, wrote in a letter.
Instead, the officials asked that local health departments use the tests to increase the number and capacity of community-based testing sites.
“We urge you to make every effort and come up with innovative ways to provide your residents and businesses with open and convenient access to testing,” the letter said.
So far, Maryland has tested 7.4% of its population. The city of Baltimore leads large jurisdictions and is above the state average with 8.5% of its population tested, Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration said.
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