June 18th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Department of Health (MDH) officials today urged county leaders to step up local COVID-19 testing efforts and meet the goal of testing 10% of their populations.

The appeal comes in a letter from MDH Secretary Robert Neall and Deputy Secretary Fran Phillips, who write: “As part of our COVID-19 testing expansion, Maryland continues to make large quantities of specimen collection kits directly available to local health departments. Given that the state has a long-term strategic supply of tests, there is no need to stockpile these resources or turn away our allocations. Instead, we ask that your local health departments use these tests to increase the number and capacity of community-based testing sites. We urge you to make every effort and come up with innovative ways to provide your residents and businesses with open and convenient access to testing.” Read the letter here.

The state will soon begin publishing testing volume data by jurisdiction on coronavirus.maryland.gov so that Marylanders can track local progress. To date, Maryland has tested 7.4% of its population. Baltimore City leads large jurisdictions and is above the state average with 8.5% of its population tested.