MENU

Sections

More

December 6, 2025

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

3 Top Story

COVID-19 Jan. 11 Report

by
Leave a Comment


The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data are updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 36.03% and its case rate is 239.41 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 850,316, an increase of 9,693 in the past 24 hours.

• In the past 24 hours, 70 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 12,086.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 27.62%, down 0.36 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,452, up 88 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 10 Report

by
Leave a Comment


The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data are updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 37.25% and its case rate is 246.14 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 840,623, an increase of 9,683 in the past 24 hours.

• In the past 24 hours, 47 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 12,016.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 27.98%, up 0.15 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,364, up 78 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 9 Report

by
Leave a Comment

The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data are updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 37.25% and its case rate is 249.27 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 830,940, an increase of 17,252 in the past 24 hours.

• In the past 24 hours, 52 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 11,969.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 27.83%, down 1.45 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,286, down 20 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 7 Report

by
Leave a Comment

The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 34.1% and its case rate is 196.82 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 800,743, an increase of 11,778 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 59 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 11,868.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 28.3%, down 1.68 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,208, up 36 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 5 Report

by
Leave a Comment

The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 30.1% and its case rate is 211.17 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 788,965, an increase of 12,735 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 54 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 11,809.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 29.98%, up 1.42 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,172, up 54 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Md. Health Secretary Slammed Over Mishandled Vaccines, Lack of Universal Masking

by
Leave a Comment

Senators grilled Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader Wednesday afternoon about his agency’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic following a recent report that hundreds of Marylanders were vaccinated with mishandled doses.

The Baltimore Sun reported last week that TrueCare24 — a state-contracted company — mismanaged vaccination records and may have compromised doses by storing them improperly.

“My concern is that this is not just a problem with TrueCare — [but] that there may be more systemic problems in place here with other vendors that are administering the vaccine as well,” said Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard) at a briefing of the Senate Vaccine Oversight Workgroup.

According to a subsequent report from the Sun, 28% of the people vaccinated by TrueCare24 are incarcerated.

“I’m very concerned about the spoiled vaccines and that they were administered primarily to exactly the communities who are in most need and have been most apprehensive and cynical about the vaccine,” said Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City).

According to Schrader, the Department of Health gave the company notice to address its problems, but no action was taken. The agency became aware of the inappropriate storage of vaccines and opened an investigation on Sept. 2, stopped assigning vaccine clinics to TrueCare24 on Sept. 8 and referred the matter to the agency’s audit team on Sept. 24.

The Department of Health contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for guidance on Nov. 10 and was told to contact the 926 people who received the compromised doses. Schrader said his agency began sending emails out on Dec. 30. Those who did not submit their email address will receive letters in the mail.

Schrader said that the department plans to finish the notification process by next week.

“​​To be sure, I am not happy about how long it’s taken to obtain the clinical next steps,” he told the senators.

The matter is still under review. Schrader said he expects an audit report on his desk by the end of January.

Everyone who received a vaccine from TrueCare24 will be offered an appointment to be re-vaccinated, he said.

When pressed about his dissatisfaction with how the situation has been handled, Schrader responded that “the buck stops” with him.

Washington agreed.

“We’re having this pattern of something happening that is being, by someone, swept under the rug or not dealt with in a straightforward manner, then the press or we have to uncover it and then that wastes a lot of time and, frankly, it’s costing lives,” she said.

Lam said he’s worried that the issues seen with TrueCare24 are just the “tip of the iceberg,” and that this may be the symptom of a more systemic problem within the Hogan administration.

He also raised a red flag about the whistleblower’s demotion within the department, noting that this has happened in other instances where the agency has flubbed its response to the pandemic.

“Whether it’s the clunky South Korean [COVID] tests, the PPE that were ordered from politically connected companies with no prior history to deliver or the firing of health officers trying to protect their counties, or even the demotion of an internal whistleblower — your decisions as the secretary seem to follow a pattern of behavior that consistently deflects blame oR fires the messenger,” Lam said.

Schrader told Lam that his information was “partially correct but there’s a lot more to the story” and offered to discuss it with the senator offline.

A frequent critic of the Health secretary, Lam, a public health physician, also went after him for his stance against a universal masking mandate, noting that he was quoted in a Washington Post report as saying it was “not on the table.”

“My question to you, Mr. Secretary, is how many more Marylanders must become hospitalized or die before we’ll reinstate a full mask mandate here in the state?” Lam asked.

On Wednesday, 3,118 Marylanders were being hospitalized for COVID-19 — the highest number the state has seen since the pandemic began. Nearly 50 people died between Tuesday and Wednesday.

State health officials have projected that Maryland could reach up to 5,000 hospitalizations in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) proclaimed a 30-day state of emergency, noting that the next four to six weeks are projected to be “the most challenging time of the entire pandemic.”

Hogan issued a masking mandate for all state-run facilities on Monday but declined to issue a universal mandate.

Schrader responded that the Department of Health is looking to impose a cultural shift, which he believes is better achieved with persuasion than force.

“Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, I think you know we’re in the middle of a pandemic, our hospitals are being flooded out right now and I don’t think we have the time to wait on changing culture,” Lam replied.

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 5 Report

by
Leave a Comment

The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency Tuesday, but did not impose a statewide mask mandate. He urged Maryland residents to get vaccinated and get booster shots, noting those who were not fully vaccinated accounted for “nearly 75%” of positive tests and “nearly 84%” of COVID-19 deaths in 2021.

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 27.83% and its case rate is 238.96 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 776,230, an increase of 10,286 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 49 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 11,755.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 28.56%, up 1.12 percentage points from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,118, up 61 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Hogan Issues State of Emergency, Calls on Feds For More Decisive Action on Vaccines, Treatments

by
Leave a Comment

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) proclaimed a 30-day state of emergency Tuesday morning, stating that Maryland will see the pandemic reach its worst points in January through early February.

“…[T]he truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic,” Hogan said.

The Maryland Department of Health reported an additional 311 hospitalizations Tuesday morning, pushing the state to a new peak of 3,057 in total. Hogan said that state health officials project that “could reach more than 5,000” — more than 250% higher than the state’s previous peak of 1,952 hospitalized COVID patients.

Tuesday also saw nearly 14,500 confirmed cases and 48 deaths. The state’s positivity rate rests at 27.44%.

“Right now we’re experiencing the winter surge that we anticipated, together with the convergence of the delta variant, the flu season and the omicron variant which has spread like wildfire throughout the country and around the world,” Hogan said.

Under the proclamation Hogan has the ability to “take urgent, short-term actions to combat the current crisis,” he said.

Hogan also issued two executive orders Tuesday.

The first order gives Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader the authority to direct and expedite the transfer of patients between hospitals and create alternate care facilities, allows for interstate reciprocity to let health care workers licensed in nearby states to practice in Maryland, lets inactive practitioners provide care services without renewing their licenses and gives graduate nurses the greenlight to provide care in hospitals and other health care settings.

Hogan’s second order expands the state’s emergency medical workers by giving the executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems and the chairperson of the State Emergency Medical Services Board the authority to suspend portions of state code to allow more people to practice on the frontlines.

Additionally, the governor announced that he has deployed 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to aid local health officials in testing and transporting patients.

Access to testing has been front of mind for many Marylanders who have waited hours in lines after the holiday. The demand for testing portends increased case rates, and potentially hospitalizations.

According to Dr. Theodore Delbridge, the executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, Tuesday’s hospitalization rate represents a 100% increase in the number of hospitalizations from Dec. 22 — only two weeks ago. He also noted that nine hospitals have begun operating under crisis standards of care, with three more on the verge of doing so.

“As of yesterday afternoon, more than 600 patients — people — were waiting in emergency departments for their turn to be admitted to a hospital bed,” Delbridge said.

He added that nearly every Maryland emergency department is requesting that EMS teams reroute patients to other hospitals to try to mitigate patient overflow.

“Of course, that’s not possible when every nearby emergency department is also requesting no new patients,” said Delbridge.

Hogan continued to push for vaccinations, adding that booster shots are now available to Maryland children aged 12 through 15 five months after they received their second dose.

The governor said that “nearly 75%” of people who tested positive and “nearly 84%” of those who died from COVID-related complications in 2021 were not fully vaccinated.

“The vaccines are safe and effective, and they’re keeping people out of the hospital and saving lives,” Hogan said.

While Hogan declared a state of emergency, he did not mandate statewide masking.

Hogan said that masking mandates can result in “the opposite effect.”

“I’m not sure the people that are refusing to wear masks are going to wear one anyway. We don’t have the ability to enforce it, so we’re just strongly encouraging people to wear the damn mask, but we don’t need a mandate to … force businesses to do that we’re encouraging them to do so,” he said.

Rather, the governor, who was scheduled to attend a call with the White House shortly after the news conference, said that he would be pushing the federal government to shorten the length of time between second doses of vaccines and boosters, increase the availability of monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic clinical treatment and to expedite the approval and distribution of at-home rapid tests and the newly FDA-approved Pfizer antiviral pills.

“All of the emergency actions that we’re taking today are to keep our hospitals from overflowing to keep our kids in school and to keep Maryland open for business and we will continue to take whatever actions are necessary in the very difficult days and weeks ahead,” Hogan said. “But we also need the federal government to take decisive action.”

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

COVID-19 Jan. 4 Report

by
Leave a Comment

The Spy obtains information for the above chart between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

Key points for today

• Community transmission of COVID-19 remains high. Wear a mask indoors in public spaces.

• Dorchester County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 27.74% and its case rate is 234.93 cases per 100,000 population.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 765,944, an increase of 14,494 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 48 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 11,706.

• The state’s average positivity rate is 27.44%, up 0.57% from yesterday.

• The number of patients currently hospitalized is 3,057, up 311 from yesterday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

As COVID Booms, Hogan Announces New Safety Measures, Schools Chief Defends Planned Return to Class

by
Leave a Comment

As the state’s COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates continue to skyrocket, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) implemented new orders aimed at state employees Monday, with plans to announce further emergency measures later this week.

“Today we are taking another series of actions to address the current surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations, and we will continue to take every action necessary to help our hospitals and keep people safe,” Hogan said in a statement Monday morning.

Hogan announced Monday morning that the state will provide two hours of paid leave to incentivize government employees to get their COVID-19 booster shots. This policy will be applied retroactively to employees who have proof they’ve been boosted.

State agencies will also be allowed to implement hybrid in-person and telework policies. “Front-facing agency services” have been instructed to operate as usual, according to Monday’s news release.

Additionally, all state employees and visitors are now required to be masked while in buildings owned or leased by the state.

The state’s largest employee union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — which reached a new contract with the Hogan administration on New Year’s Eve, said officials had earlier rejected policies on universal masking and screening during the collective bargaining process.

On Monday, the state reported 14,251 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours — and 26 additional deaths.

Almost 90,000 new COVID test results were reported Monday, after hours-long lines snaked around testing sites across the state over the weekend. Maryland’s current seven-day average positivity rate for reported COVID tests is 26.87%.

According to the Maryland Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, which had been knocked offline following a cyberattack waged against the agency last month, 2,746 hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients — nearly doubling the state’s previous peak seen in January 2021.

Several hospitals in the state have shifted to “crisis standards of care,” which give legal and ethical guidelines to health care providers when they have too many patients and not enough resources to care for them all, The Associated Press reported.

The House Health and Government Operations Committee and the Senate Education, Environment and Health Affairs Committee will hold a joint hearing on Jan. 13 to question department officials about the nature of the cyberattack.

Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader was slated to provide an update to lawmakers on the state response to the surge in cases during a briefing of the Senate Vaccine Oversight Workgroup on Monday afternoon but requested that the meeting be postponed to Wednesday, citing “weather-related response activities.”

After a spokesperson for Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) alerted the press that the Senate meeting was canceled, the governor’s office announced that Hogan will hold a briefing to discuss COVID-19 emergency actions Tuesday morning.

Last week, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore City) issued a statement criticizing what she characterized as Hogan’s inaction in response to the pandemic’s surge following a Baltimore Sun report that a state-contracted company mishandled vaccine doses.

“Our overwhelmed hospitals have called on the state to declare a public health emergency. These calls have gone unanswered by the Department of Health,” Jones tweeted. “Now, we are learning they’ve mishandled the vaccination of over a thousand Marylanders and refused to notify them in a timely manner. Governor Hogan needs to treat this like the public health crisis it has once again become.”

Schools chief defends planned return

As students prepare to return to school after winter break, some school districts are reinforcing their commitment to in-person learning while some teachers and parents have been demanding a return to virtual learning in the midst of the rapidly spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus.

In a press conference on Monday, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises emphasized the importance of keeping schools open, especially for the most vulnerable students for whom school is one of their only safe havens.

“The decision to return to in-person learning is grounded in one to two plus years of experience and consultation with medical professionals,” Santelises said.

The decision aligns with U.S. Department of Education guidance and State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, who has repeatedly spoken in favor of keeping schools open. Montgomery County Public Schools, the state’s largest school system, also intends to return to classrooms after the holidays, though that has also been delayed by winter weather. In mid-December, Prince George’s County Public Schools made the decision to shift to virtual learning until after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Santelises on Monday announced additional safety measures, including to require all staff — vaccinated and unvaccinated — to participate in weekly tests for COVID-19 through the month of January. All high school students will be offered testing on Wednesday, one day before they return to school. And the school district will also offer more ways for families to submit COVID-19 testing consent forms, such as through email or other online portals, Santelises continued.

Elected state officials, including the senate president, showed their support for the decision on Monday, joining Santelises at the press conference.

“We have multiple layers of detection, prevention and treatment that exist to make our schools some of the safest places in our city — no other sectors in our society right now are shutting down,” Ferguson said.

By Hannah Gaskill, Bruce DePuyt, and Elizabeth Shwe

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.