10 Hospital-Based Testing Sites To Open In MD By The End Of Next Week: Gov. Hogan

MARYLAND — University of Maryland Laurel Medical Center will be home to one of 10 new hospital-based testing sites being put up across Maryland, a move state officials hope will divert people away from visiting emergency departments just to get a COVID-19 test.

All of the sites are expected to be fully operational by the end of next week, Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday afternoon at a news conference.

All of these sites will be open for walk-ups and drive-through visits seven days a week with no appointment necessary.

“One of the primary goals of this effort is to ease the burden on hospitals and emergency rooms,” said Hogan at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “We’re already getting great encouraging reports that emergency room traffic for testing has dropped dramatically as a result.”

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health has seen a 72 percent drop in emergency room visits since the testing site there was set up, the governor said.

The new sites include:

• UM Laurel Medical Center (Laurel)
• UM Charles Regional Medical Center (La Plata)
• UM Capital Region Medical Center (Largo)
• Doctors Community Hospital (Lanham)
• Meritus Health (Hagerstown)
• Frederick Health (Frederick)
• University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore)
• Johns Hopkins (Baltimore)
• MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital (Leonardtown)
• Northwest Hospital (Randallstown)

“I continue to urge federal officials to address the serious national shortage of rapid testing," Hogan said at the conference. "We have had little update from them, but it appears that it will still be several weeks before the federal government is able to begin distributing any more rapid tests.”

Every 24 hours, the Department of Health analyzes more test samples to detect omicron — it estimates the variant accounts for 90 percent of all lab-confirmed cases in Maryland, as well as 90 percent of all hospitalized cases.

The governor declared a state of emergency in Maryland earlier this week and activated the National Guard to help with testing.

"It's important for Marylanders to go back to using common sense and doing the things that will keep us safe: avoiding crowds, keeping your distance, washing your hands, and yes—once again—wearing the damn masks," Hogan said at a Hanover press conference Tuesday.

The governor signed an emergency order that gave Secretary of Health Dennis Schrader the power to allow health care practitioners to practice outside the scope of their license, regulate elective medical procedures as necessary and issue directives to control and monitor COVID-19 in nursing homes and similar facilities, among other things.

"All of the emergency actions we are taking today are to keep our hospitals from overflowing, to keep our kids in school, and to keep Maryland open for business," the governor said in a press release. "We will continue to take whatever actions are necessary in the very difficult days and weeks ahead."

Maryland currently has a positivity rate of 29.98 percent, and 3,172 residents are hospitalized. Just over 92 percent of adults in Maryland have received at least one vaccine dose, and 86 percent of people ages 5 and up have had at least one dose.

Hogan urged residents to get vaccinated and boosted at his Tuesday news conference, citing the following:

• 75 percent of Marylanders who tested positive for COVID-19 were not fully vaccinated
• 84 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations were people who were not fully vaccinated
• 84 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Maryland were not fully vaccinated

To get a coronavirus test: visit covidtest.maryland.gov.

To find a vaccine: visit covidvax.maryland.gov