Gov. Larry Hogan announced that Maryland has surpassed 2,000 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, adding it is “a surge driven primarily by unvaccinated patients.”
While the number of hospital patients continues to rise, Hogan stressed, “Again, this is not March of 2020. It’s important to use common sense and take precautions, but we have the tools, resources, and strategies in place to protect ourselves. We are closely monitoring this surge, and will continue to provide updates as additional actions are taken.”
Montgomery County is in low transmission for hospital beds and ICU utilization but high transmission for COVID-related hospital bed use as of Dec. 29. There were 2,051 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Hogan noted that earlier this month the state established a surge operations center to optimize bed capacity and utilize alternate care sites. The state also has committed an additional $100 million for hospitals and nursing homes to address staffing needs.
According to a state directive, hospitals must suspend elective surgeries.
The state has distributed 500,000 at-home rapid test kids through local health departments and BWI Airport. Hogan noted that days and hours of state-run testing sites have been expanded and that a total of $30 million is available to schools throughout the state to enhance testing resources.
“Lastly, we continue to have one of the most aggressive booster shot campaigns in the country. The booster shots provide the strongest protection against the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The most important thing Marylanders can do is get boosted now.
As we’ve been projecting, our statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations have now surpassed 2,000—a surge driven primarily by unvaccinated patients. It cannot be stressed enough that getting vaccinated and boosted are your strongest possible defenses against this virus and its variants.
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) December 29, 2021
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