The Maryland Department of Health has received an initial two-week allocation of 5460 medication courses of the two oral COVID-19 viral medications, which were approved by the FDA late last month. Since December 29th, there have been 535 new COVID cases in Allegany County, and one additional death. The local positivity rate is 18.98 per cent, which is less than Maryland’s figure of 26.87 per cent. Currently, 49.1 per cent of Allegany County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The state vaccination rate is 70.6 per cent. For a listing of testing and vaccine clinics, you can visit the Allegany County Health Department website.