Posted on 05/21/22
| News Source: FOX45
More than two years after the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 cases are on the rise nationally, including in Maryland, creating fears that we may be heading into a fifth wave of the deadly disease.
The Maryland Department of Health reports cases are rising, but hospitalizations remain relatively low.
Still, for the first time since February, the state is seeing more than 400 people hospitalized with 426 patients occupying hospital beds due to Covid. An uptick in hospitalizations often lags an increase in infections.
The positivity rate in Maryland stands at 8.39%, which is above the 5% threshold indicating widespread infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still considers the risk to Marylanders to be low for the time being.
But Johns Hopkins University is recording about 100,000 new cases a day nationwide for the first time in months. Much of the worry is focused on the Northeast where case counts are increasing most rapidly.
White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha is also warning that the infection rate is probably worse than government data show.