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Huge local COVID-19 milestones: No new deaths in Md., 70% partially vaccinated in Va.

Maryland has reported no new deaths from COVID-19 for the first time since 2020 and Virginia has officially hit 70% of adults with at least one vaccine dose, marking major steps in the states’ fights to control the virus. Gov. Larry Hogan made the announcement Sunday morning that it’s the first time since October 2020 there were no new coronavirus-related deaths.

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White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar announced on Sunday that Virginia officially became the 16th state to reach 70% of adults with at least one vaccine dose, including 351,000 newly vaccinated people.

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In a release, Maryland also touted upbeat trends in multiple other metrics. The number of new confirmed cases had declined to 42, which is the first time since March 23, 2020 that Maryland reported less than 50 new cases. Hospitalizations have also plummeted to 150 — their lowest level since March 27, 2020 and down 88% since mid-April — as the number of adults with at least one dose reaches 73% (6.6 million). The state’s positivity rate also declined 88% since mid-April to a record-low of 0.72%. Meanwhile, case rates fell to 1.12 per 100,000, the lowest level since March 26, 2020 and down 95% since mid-April. WTOP’s Hannah Parker contributed to this report. 

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
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