COVID-19 cases climbing slowly in Frederick County

Apr. 24—As the weather warms up in Frederick County, coronavirus transmission levels are gradually rising.

The local positivity rate — a comparison of positive COVID-19 tests to the total number of tests administered — was 5.25% on Friday, the last day for which county data was available.

This measure stood at 2.91% on April 1, according to the Frederick County Health Department's COVID-19 dashboard.

The county has been recording more daily coronavirus cases in the last two weeks than earlier this month, said health department spokeswoman Rissah Watkins.

The growing number of cases could be because of the multiple religious holidays that have taken place this month, she said. People might have felt more comfortable gathering to observe Ramadan, Passover and Easter than they have in the past two years.

Also, many Frederick County families might have traveled during the school district's spring break last week, Watkins said.

The extremely contagious version of the omicron variant, BA.2, which is now responsible for about three-fourths of COVID-19 cases nationwide, is present locally, Watkins said.

About 70% of the cases in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., were caused by BA.2 in the week ending April 16, according to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

White House chief medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated that BA.2 is about 50 percent more transmissible than the omicron variant that caused COVID-19 cases to skyrocket this winter and overwhelmed hospitals nationwide.