March 5 marks one year since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were found in the state.
March 2020 was a tumultuous one, with the public and officials alike learning more about the virus every day.
According to the CDC, the first U.S. cases of nontravel–related COVID-19 were confirmed on February 26 and 28, 2020, "suggesting that community transmission was occurring by late February".
In Maryland, we were affected almost immediately, with the first confirmed cases in the state coming within the first week, and the first death just two weeks later.
Within just 25 days, Maryland went from 3 positive cases to more than 1,600. With ages ranging from as young as a one-month-old infant to seniors.
And less than two weeks into the month, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic.
For many people across the state, country and world, the month of March felt like three months in one. While we've grown since then, with vaccines being distributed, positivity rates dropping, it's important to look back at just how much happened within such a short period of time.
We have lost more than 7,500 Marylanders to COVID since the pandemic began.
In comparison, the CDC estimated that during the 2018-19 flu season, 34,200 people in the U.S. died from influenza.
More than 380,000 have tested positive and nearly three million (as of February 28) have tested negative.
The positivity rate is at the lowest it's been in months. For reference, at the end of March 2020, the COVID-19 positivity rate was just under 17 percent.
Currently, as of the end of February, it sits just below 3.5.
While that statistic is positive, we still have a ways to go. Marylanders continue to be plagued by unemployment and vaccine distribution success varies from county to county.
If you need help, whether it's rebounding from the pandemic, dealing with unemployment issues or finding out when and where you can get vaccinated, you can click on the respective links for assistance.