Seven Maryland jurisdictions are now under a high COVID-19 transmission rate, as determined by the CDC. They are Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Kent, Talbot and Dorchester counties, and Baltimore City. On Thursday, the state health department added more than 26-hundred new COVID cases to its total and eleven additional virus-related deaths. The state’s positivity rate is down slightly to just under eight-and-a-half-percent. Hospitalizations increased by one, to 493, including 62 adults and one child who are receiving intensive care.