December 17th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Maryland health officials on Thursday reported over 2,200 new coronavirus cases during a 24-hour period and the deaths of 49 state residents, even as hospitalizations continue to go down.

There have now been 243,984 total coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with a total of 5,152 deaths reported.

Hospitalizations went down by 60, and are now at 1,702. ICU beds are slightly down again to 394, and there are 1,308 in acute care.

The statewide positivity rate went up slightly to 7.73%.