Some reports have indicated that hospitalizations from the coronavirus continued to increase in Maryland. On Tuesday, the state reported that 54 more people were hospitalized compared with the previous day. The total number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 increased to a total of 761. Maryland also reported 1,338 new cases and 12 more deaths. It marks the 7th straight day the state has had at least 1,000 cases. The State has confirmed at least 156,000 virus cases since the widespread coronavirus started. Maryland has reported a total of at least 4,084 virus-related deaths. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has scheduled a news conference for 5 pm Tuesday. He wrote on Twitter that the state has reached a critical turning point in the fight against COVID-19.
Moreover, the state health department announced the launch of a new app for people with smartphones to receive a notification if they might have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. The health Secretary Robert Neall said, “MD COVID Alert complements our traditional contact tracing efforts to notify users of possible exposure to help contain the virus. I encourage Marylanders to use MD COVID Alert to help protect the people around them, including those they might not know directly”. Maryland residents will receive a push notification inviting them to receive exposure notification alerts on their iPhone or Android smartphone. Android users will be prompted to opt-in by installing the MD COVID Alert app from the Google Play Store.
The iPhone users will be able to opt-in by enabling exposure notifications in their phone’s settings and selecting Maryland as their region. The app is now available without any cost and it is voluntary. It is noteworthy that users can disable exposure notifications at any time. The health department says the alert system was specifically designed to protect privacy. The system uses Bluetooth technology to detect if two devices are near each other without revealing where the devices are or whom they belong to. The system assigns users a random number. These numbers change every 10 to 20 minutes to ensure these random IDs cannot be used to identify users.