Mass vaccination site planned in Western Maryland

Teresa McMinn, Cumberland Times-News, Md.
·4 min read

Feb. 27—CUMBERLAND — Although reports differ on where Maryland ranks in the country for COVID-19 vaccination distribution, a new site coming to the western part of the state will improve the numbers.

Gov. Larry Hogan next week is expected to announce details, including when and where for a mass COVID-19 vaccination site in Western Maryland.

The latest facility, combined with the anticipated availability of more vaccine to fight the disease, should help boost the state's inoculation success rate.

Becker's Hospital Review on Friday listed Maryland in 48th place among states ranked by percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered.

However, Maryland "has the country's 19th-highest population and we are 21st in the country for doses administered," Maryland Department of Health Deputy Director of Media Relations Charlie Gischlar said via email Friday. "We expect the rate to continue to rise as supply increases throughout March, as we open more mass vaccination sites."

The reported vaccination rate discrepancy, in part at least, could be due to reporting times.

"Some numbers may not reflect the actual number of vaccines administered, as coding problems and data lags have hindered efforts to accurately count and publicly report how many doses are administered daily in some states," beckershospitalreview.com stated.

The website on Friday listed West Virginia as second only to New Mexico for the highest daily administered dose rate.

According to a recent report in The Atlantic, West Virginia's vaccination success is tied to the state's collaboration with people at local and community levels.

Additionally, while other state COVID-19 vaccination registration websites crashed, West Virginia provided a telephone hotline for residents to call and learn how and where they could get the vaccine, as well as schedule appointments.

Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. David Trone hosted a webinar to help clarify the COVID-19 vaccination process with health officials from the five counties in Maryland's sixth district that he represents.

At that time, he touted West Virginia's high efficiency for vaccine distribution.

On Friday, Trone reacted to the recent Becker's report.

"Unlike West Virginia and other states that have been successful getting shots into arms, Maryland lacks a central registration system and it is confusing for people who want a vaccine to get one," he said via email.

"Right now our number one priority is fighting this virus, and we need to make vaccine information easy to understand and accessible," Trone said. "I put together a COVID vaccine newsletter — to help thousands across my district in Maryland get information about these vaccines, and the state should look to making a centralized system like this to make it easier for people to access this life-saving vaccine information."

State and local reports

MDH on Friday reported 970 new COVID-19 cases, 33 additional deaths and nine fewer hospitalizations across the state in the past 24 hours.

The daily positive COVID-19 case rate was 3.66% statewide, with Allegany County at 1.43%, Garrett County at 2.24% and Washington County at 4.77%.

The seven-day moving average COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 people was 12.91 statewide, with Allegany County at 3.65, Garrett County at 3.94 and Washington County at 16.74.

MDH also reported that 13.2% of Marylanders have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 7.1% have received both doses.

The Allegany County Health Department on Friday reported that 9,904 residents, which is 14.1% of the county population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 6,539 people, or 9.3% of the population, have received both doses.

ACHD reported seven new COVID-19 cases since Monday, bringing the county's cumulative case count to 6,400.

"One additional death was recorded, bringing the cumulative number of COVID fatalities to 198 for Allegany County," ACHD said via press release.

The Garrett County Health Department on Friday said COVID-19 testing is important even for folks that have been fully vaccinated.

"The existence of the new variants makes continued testing important," Garrett County Health Officer Bob Stephens said via press release. "If a previously vaccinated person were to test positive for the virus, it is possible that a variant of the virus is the cause, and this would be something requiring further investigation."