NewsLocal News

Actions

Harford County reactivates pandemic response due to COVID-19 surge

Posted
and last updated

HARFORD COUNTY — Beginning Friday, Harford County will reactivate its pandemic response from earlier this year until metrics improve.

All county facilities will be closed to the public. Drop boxes for documents and payments will be reactivated at the county administration building at 220 S. Main Street in Bel Air.

All indoor parks and recreation facilities and programming will be suspended.

Organized outdoor activities on county fields, including tournaments, are also suspended. County parks will remain open with social distancing requirements in place.

Following the governor’s advisory, county government employees who are authorized to telework will do so until further notice.

In addition, County Executive Barry Glassman has ordered 1,500 rapid COVID-19 tests to support a rapid response to potential cases in county government and allied agencies, including the Health Department, Harford County Public Schools, Volunteer Fire Companies and law enforcement.

Harford County’s positivity rate began to spike on October 31, and has risen above 7% for the first time since June.

The county’s November 12 positivity rate was 7.36%, according to the Maryland COVID-19 Data Dashboard.

Similarly, Harford’s seven-day moving average case rate per 100K people began a surge in late October. The case rate rose to 7.27 on October 30 and, within two weeks, rose to 25.28 on November 12.

Since March, both metrics have largely tracked or been below the state averages, but have now risen above.

As of Thursday, Harford County’s total cases are 4,329, an increase of 57, with 81 deaths.

Although hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, Harford County hospitalizations reported by University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health are at 28, with nine in critical care.