ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan on Thursday announced that COVID-19 hospitalizations in the State of Maryland have dropped below 1,500, as the state continues to report substantial declines in health metrics.

Thursday marks the end of the 30-day state of emergency that the governor declared last month.

In Wednesday night’s State of the State address, the governor said, “With swift and decisive actions and the vigilance of Marylanders, I’m pleased to report that we have turned back another dangerous variant of COVID-19, and tomorrow, the state of emergency will end in Maryland. Our long-term public health response will continue. Our surge capacity, our testing and tracing operations, our vaccine clinics—all those things will remain in place as part of the ongoing operations of government.”

Maryland continues to report substantial declines in key health metrics:

• Maryland’s COVID-19 case rate has declined by 85% to 31.5/100K , and the state continues to report the lowest case rate in the country.
• Maryland’s COVID-19 positivity rate has declined by 76% to 7.15%, and the state is reporting the fifth-lowest positivity rate in the country.
• Maryland’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined by 57% to 1,458, and the state’s hospitalizations are dropping at the second fastest rate in the country.

In addition, Maryland is nearing 95% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose, another major milestone for the state’s vaccination campaign.