Charles County residents with a positive result, meaning confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection from a PCR-RNA laboratory test, are included in the total case count. Laboratories report results electronically to the health department through the National Electronic Data Surveillance System.

The total case count represents all confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 among Charles County residents since the pandemic began. The number of new cases reported to the health department in the last 24 hours and in the last week are also presented to help describe the current spread within the community.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health Daily REDCap Report with all positive SARS-CoV-2 infections in Charles County

COVID-19 outbreaks are defined in two ways:

During contact tracing, two or more contacts of an infected person are identified as having active COVID-19. This means that when we reach out to the close contacts of someone with COVID-19, two more of those people end up testing positive for the disease.

Two or more patients with COVID-19 are discovered to be linked through contact tracing, that link was discovered outside of a case investigation. For example, two patients who received a diagnosis of COVID-19 are found to work in the same office, and only one or perhaps neither of the them was listed as a close contact of the other.

We report on Outbreaks in Charles County using data from the daily briefing the Charles County Department of Health receives from the State of Maryland Health Department.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health Daily COVID-19 Report (provided to County Health Officers)

Because this data briefing may include data on small sample sizes, it is not made publicly available for privacy reasons. The data contained in the report comes directly from the Maryland Department of Health, using the statewide combined reporting system, known as the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients (CRISP) Health Information Exchange.

Positivity Rate is the total daily number of virus tests conducted in the county and of those tests, how many were positive each day. Since we report weekly, we share the average percentage of tests that were positive over the last 7 days.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard

Case Rate is the number of cases per 100,000 residents. Since we report data weekly, we share the 7-day moving average Case Rate.

Using the population size in the calculation helps us more easily compare larger and smaller counties. A larger county would be expected to have more total cases because of the larger population, but expressing the rate per 100,000 residents enables a more equal analysis.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard

As of December 15, 2022, COVID-19 hospital data are required to be reported to CDC’s NHSN, which monitors national and local trends in healthcare system stress, capacity, and community disease levels for approximately 6,000 hospitals in the United States. County-level hospital data displayed on the COVID Data Tracker are derived using calculations performed at the Health Service Area (HSA) level.

Data presented at the county-level represent admissions, hospital inpatient and ICU bed capacity and occupancy among hospitals with the selected HSA. Therefore, admissions, capacity, and occupancy are not limited to residents of the selected HSA.

Using these data, the COVID-19 new hospital admissions level is classified as low, medium, or high.

Data Source: COVID-19-associated hospitalization data reported to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)

CDC looks at the combination of three metrics — new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days — to determine the COVID-19 community level. New COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system. Data on new cases acts as an early warning indicator of potential increases in health system strain in the event of a COVID-19 surge.

The COVID-19 community level is determined by the higher of the new admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days

Using these data, the COVID-19 community level is classified as low, medium, or high.

Data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 Community Levels

This is the total number of Charles County residents who have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. COVID-19 deaths are counted when the disease is listed on the death certificate. When someone dies in a health care facility, the task of determining the cause usually goes to a physician who oversaw the person’s care or the person’s primary care doctor. Coroners and medical examiners make the determination in various other instances, including deaths that occur at home.

Part I and II of a death certificate ask what caused a death and what other factors contributed to it. If COVID-19 appears among the causes and contributors, CDC guidance counts that as a COVID-19-related death.

Part I asks for the “immediate cause” of death, followed by any “conditions that led to the immediate cause,” the CDC explains in guidelines for certifying COVID-19 fatalities. For example: In some COVID-19 cases, the immediate cause is an affliction that arose from the disease, such as pneumonia, while COVID-19 gets listed under that as an underlying condition that led to death. In other words, COVID-19 caused the pneumonia.

Part II asks for conditions that did not set off medical events that led to death but contributed in some other way. Here, COVID-19 appears as sort of an accomplice to a fatality that was probably going to occur from something else (such as a preexisting, terminal disease), but was accelerated by the person having contracted COVID-19.

If COVID-19 is listed on the death certificate, the Maryland Department of Health reviews the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System to determine if the individual has a positive laboratory result for SARS-CoV-2. If a positive result is found, the death is classified as “confirmed.” If a positive laboratory cannot be found but the death is epidemiologically linked to a COVID-19 outbreak and the clinical presentation was indicative of COVID-19 infection, then the death is listed as “probable.”

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard

This data reflects the number of Charles County residents that have received first or second doses of a series, including Pfizer and Moderna and single dose vaccines, such as Janssen. The actual total may be higher than reported due to delays in the electronic reporting system.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVIDlink Internal Data Portal (information pulls from data in CRISP – See “Vaccination Rates” for more info about CRISP)

Because this data source is specific to individual test results, just like other data originating from CRISP, access is highly controlled for privacy reasons and there is no public access to this data source.

This data reflects the number of individuals that have received the first and second doses of a series, including Pfizer and Moderna, and single dose vaccines, such as Janssen that were administered by the Charles County Department of Health. This data includes both Charles County residents and residents from other jurisdictions that are eligible for vaccination due to occupation. The actual total may be higher than reported due to delays in the electronic reporting system.

Third doses include first booster doses and third doses given in a primary series to those who are immunocompromised. Fourth doses include second boosters for eligible populations and first boosters for the immunocompromised. 

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVIDlink Internal Data Portal (information pulls from data in CRISP – See “Vaccination Rates” for more info about CRISP)

Because this data source is specific to individual test results, just like other data originating from CRISP, access is highly controlled for privacy reasons and there is no public access to this data source.

The data shows the percentage of people in the age category who are fully vaccinated. This means they have completed 2 shots of Moderna or Pfizer or 1 shot of Johnson & Johnson.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health Eligible Population Report (provided daily to County Health Officers)

Because this data briefing may include data on small sample sizes, it is not made publicly available for privacy reasons. The data contained in the report comes directly from the Maryland Department of Health, using the statewide combined reporting system, known as the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients (CRISP) Health Information Exchange.

The count of people who received a booster dose includes anyone who is fully vaccinated and has received another dose of COVID-19 vaccine since August 13, 2021. This includes people who received booster doses and people who received additional doses.

The count of people who received a second booster dose includes anyone who is fully vaccinated and has received 2 subsequent doses of COVID-19 vaccine since August 13, 2021. This includes people who received two booster doses and people who received one additional dose and one booster dose.

Data Source: CDC COVID-19 Data Tracker at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=Maryland&data-type=Risk&list_select_county=24017.

Viruses constantly change through mutation. As expected, multiple variants of COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and globally throughout this pandemic.

We report on Variants of Concern identified in Charles County. These are variants for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease (e.g., increased hospitalizations or deaths), significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.

Data Source: Maryland Department of Health COVIDlink Internal Data Portal (information pulls from data in CRISP – See “Vaccination Rates” for more info about CRISP)

Because this data source is specific to individual test results, just like other data originating from CRISP, access is highly controlled for privacy reasons and there is no public access to this data source.