December 28th, 2021 by WCBC Radio

Maryland is reporting thousands of new COVID-19 cases and hospitals are already at or near capacity. Right now, hospitals are mainly focusing on COVID-19 patients and are already being directed by the state to delay non-emergency procedures. The day after Christmas, the Maryland Department of Health is reporting there are 663,414 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which is up 5,826 from earlier in the week. The state positivity rate jumped to 15.85 percent Monday, but had fallen back to 11.09 Tuesday. For the first time in recent memory, Allegany County’s rate (9.25%) is lower than the state average. Governor Larry Hogan said the omicron variant has state health officials on guard for a COVID surge…