Covid-19 deaths are mounting in Maryland even as new infections decline.
With nearly a week left in January, the state on Tuesday already had logged 1,475 covid-related fatalities, more than double the number recorded in December, and higher than any other month since the pandemic began.
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Public health experts say death rates tend to lag weeks after patients receive positive test results and symptoms worsen, which explains why fatalities can spike as infection rates have fallen across D.C., Maryland and Virginia for more than a week. Officials add that it can take weeks to retroactively verify death certificates, which can change fatality numbers slightly over time.
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Eric Toner, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Maryland’s peak in deaths could “come and go” as quickly as the omicron surge in cases has, but urged residents and elected officials to exercise caution.
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“My advice is not to assume that everything is over just because things are looking better,” Toner warned. “We’ve claimed victory too many times against this virus.”
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As of Tuesday, the seven-day average of new daily cases was down 44 percent in D.C., 47 percent in Maryland and 24 percent in Virginia compared with a week ago, according to a Washington Post tracker.
Govs. Larry Hogan (R) and Glenn Youngkin (R) of Virginia declared limited states of emergencies this month to help overwhelmed hospitals, and as of this week, those numbers also appear to be receding.
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“We are turning the corner to be honest, which is encouraging. We hit our peak in mid-400s in terms of covid patients a couple of weeks ago. Now we’re down to low 300s, that’s a significant dip,” said Sam Elgawly, an internal medicine hospitalist at Inova who manages admissions and treatment.
Since the start of January, Maryland recorded more than 240,000 new infections, meaning that there have been about six deaths for every 1,000 infections. By comparison, in January 2021, the state recorded 16 deaths for every 1,000 infections; in May 2020, that rate was 44 deaths for every 1,000 infections.
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In the past year, about 80 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in Maryland occurred in patients that were not fully vaccinated, said Andy Owen, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health.
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Scientists report omicron does not appear to produce as severe symptoms in people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, but people are contracting the highly contagious variant in such high numbers that hospitalizations and deaths are setting records.
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D.C. this week opened two covid centers — permanent clinics where residents can access vaccines, at-home rapid antigen test kits and kiosks for taking PCR tests — in Wards 5 and 6, following the opening of centers last week in Wards 1, 2, 7 and 8. Centers are expected to open soon in remaining Wards 3 and 4, city officials said.
The District on Monday announced a timeline for its vaccine requirement for government workers with no test-out option, which Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced in December. The city’s Department of Human Resources said that all city workers, contractors, interns and grantees will need to be fully vaccinated, including applicable booster shots, by Feb. 15.
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D.C. first implemented a vaccine requirement for government workers in August, but it allowed employees to submit a weekly negative test result in lieu of getting vaccinated.
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Employees with approved or pending religious or medical exemption requests will be still be afforded the test-out option, according to DCHR. But starting March 15, government workers who are still not fully vaccinated — and aren’t seeking an exemption — will be subject to administrative action, starting with a verbal reminder.
The Maryland Department of Health on Tuesday announced an ad campaign to encourage parents of children 5 to 11 to get them vaccinated. TV, radio and social media spots feature interviews with kids at vaccination clinics in Baltimore City and Howard County and at a private pediatrics practice in Columbia.
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“We know some parents are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, even though they intend to get their children vaccinated eventually,” Secretary of Health Dennis R. Schrader said in a statement. “We urge these parents not to wait and to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible. The vaccines are safe and effective for children and continue to be our best defense against serious illness, hospitalization and death.”
Pediatric hospitals have seen record numbers of admissions of children during the omicron wave, but deaths remain rare.
Deaths among adults have increased across Maryland, in both rural and urban counties, but the Baltimore metro area has been hit particularly hard with the city adding 121 deaths since the start of January, compared to 29 in December, state data shows.
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The city’s health commissioner, Letitia Dzirasa, said this was to be expected given “the sheer number of people who were infected” during the omicron surge. “We saw case rates and positivity at rates we’ve never seen throughout the pandemic,” she added.
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Montgomery County, the state’s most populous country with 1.1 million residents, has seen its covid-19 deaths jump from 29 last month to 126 this month.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) is pressing to implement a vaccine passport, similar to a measure in D.C. that requires residents show proof of vaccination before entering restaurants and other indoor spaces.
At the council’s third public hearing on the vaccine passport Tuesday, residents and business owners urged lawmakers to reject Elrich’s proposal, arguing that it would be expensive and logistically challenging for businesses to enforce.
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“There are still questions about our ability to be able to effectively implement this,” said County Council president Gabe Albornoz (D-At Large). “[Personally], I do think there are more cons than pros at this time.”
Council member Will Jawando (D-At Large) questioned implementing the measure as case rates drop in Montgomery and as elsewhere.
“We’re in a different stage,” he said, “where hopefully we’re trying to move from pandemic to endemic.”
Michael Brice-Saddler contributed to this report.