Garrett County Transitions to Reporting State Numbers

By Garrett County Joint Information Center Team

In order to prioritize the most important tasks and streamline the reporting of COVID-19 statistics for the county, the Garrett County Health Department today is transitioning to using the state reporting figures. All 7-day average data has always used the totals from the state map for calculations.

Garrett County’s reports for today include:

• A total of 1,421 COVID-19 cases

• A total of 43 deaths due to COVID-19 or its complications

• A 7-day positivity rate of 11.8%, compared to Maryland’s rate of 7.4%

• A 7-day case rate per 100,000 of 53.2, compared to Maryland’s rate of 38.7

The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine began reaching the county last week, with both Garrett Regional Medical Center (GRMC) and the Garrett County Health Department receiving their initial shipments of vaccine. Additional shipments are expected this week.

“Garrett County’s vaccination plan was put into action last week as GRMC began vaccinating their frontline workers,” said Garrett County Health Officer Bob Stephens. “We are following the CDCs recommendations for phased distribution of the vaccine. We have been informed that Garrett County will initially be receiving 600 doses per week. We began vaccinating frontline high risk health care workers today, and hope to move to our most high risk populations in the next few weeks.”

Local long-term care facilities are not part of the regular vaccine distribution because they have contracts with CVS and Walgreens Pharmacies to receive vaccine for their staff and residents.

“Once the initial distribution to frontline workers is completed, we are working with primary care providers who will determine who is at highest risk for complications from COVID-19 and who should be offered the vaccine next,” Stephens said. “We are NOT creating a list of people who want to receive the vaccine. That is just not how the distribution of the vaccine is going to work.”

Contact tracers continue to have trouble keeping up with the large number of cases across the state. If you test positive for COVID-19, immediately begin to isolate for at least 10 days from the date of the test, or for 10 days from the onset of symptoms. Do not discontinue your isolation until 10 days have passed and you are fever-free for 24 hours without taking fever reducing medication.

Then, do your part by notifying your close contacts that they should immediately begin quarantining. A close contact is anyone who was closer to you than 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes within a 24 hours period – with or without a mask.

Free COVID-19 testing will be held at the MEDCO Building in the McHenry Business Park on Tuesdays from 9 am to12:30 pm and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Preregistration is recommended to speed up the process on the testing day. Visit garretthealth.org for preregistration information.  

Anyone with COVID-19 like symptoms and a doctor’s order may call Health Department 301-334-7697 to schedule a testing appointment at the Oakland office.

Additional COVID-19 resources:

• Visit garretthealth.org for the most up-to-date COVID-19 information.

• To schedule an Influenza vaccination, call the Health Department at 301-334-7697.

• For all other COVID-19 related questions, or to report a COVID-19 compliance issue, call the local COVID-19 Hotline number at 301-334-7698.