8 New virus positives at Ginger Cove Anne Arundel County sets new daily case record with 104, pushes total to 1,294

Three employees and five residents at the Annapolis retirement community Ginger Cove have tested positive for coronavirus, the company announced Thursday.

The five residents, all of whom were asymptomatic, have since been isolated at the facility. The three employees have been sent home and will not be allowed back on campus for at least 21 days, said Ginger Cove CEO Bill Holman.

After the company reported its first positive case of an employee last Friday, the facility engaged a private laboratory to conduct tests on 76 of their assisted living residents, he said.

Ginger Cove is home to more than 350 residents and 250 employees.

Like many nursing homes and retirement communities in the state, getting access to widespread testing has been difficult, Holman said.

"We've had a tough time getting any testing done because we've not had anyone with symptoms," he said. "We've been trying to get testing for all our staff but the tests just aren't available at the county level. ... We're trying to stay proactive and get out in front of this thing but testing is the problem."

Ginger Cove is one of a number of facilities in Anne Arundel County that have reported positive coronavirus cases. Three residents at Waugh Chapel Center, a nursing home in Gambrills, have died of the disease. A total of 37 residents and employees at the facility have tested positive.

Another Annapolis facility, BayWoods, has also had an employee test positive.

Countywide numbers

Coronavirus cases in Anne Arundel County grew by 104 confirmed cases Thursday to a total of 1,294, according to data from the Maryland Department of Health.

At least 54 county residents have died of the virus, and officials suspect an additional seven died of the virus but were not tested. Those deaths are listed as probable.

The increase of 104 is a new record. The second-largest increase was 96 on April 7. On Thursday, Annapolis ZIP code 21401 had the most reported cases with the county health department reporting 118 and the state health department reporting 131.

Based on the change in cases from the county health department, this was an increase of 26% from Wednesday.

The Glen Burnie ZIP code 21061 previously led the county for the highest number of cases.

The statewide total leaped to 15,737 on Thursday, an increase of nearly 1,000 cases overnight. The virus has killed at least 680 Marylanders. Another 68 deaths are listed as probable.

County officials said more information about nursing homes with outbreaks would likely be coming later this week, but the state declined a request by The Baltimore Sun to release a list of nursing homes with outbreaks.

State officials said the list wouldn't serve a public purpose and could lead to identifying a specific person with COVID-19.

Anne Arundel's recent jump in confirmed cases may be attributable to increased testing capacity, Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman said Thursday.

"We're seeing an increase in positives, a significant increase in positives," Kalyanaraman said. "That reflects not just what we're doing, but also what others are doing in the county in terms of increased testing capacity. So we're going to see these numbers go up as test capacity goes up."

Specifically, as part of the county's health equity initiative, increased testing in areas of the county that haven't had access to testing, Kalyanraman said.

"We're going to start seeing what those trends are in those communities as well as give us a better picture of what's going on," Kalyanaraman said.

As the number of infected residents continues to rise across the county and across the state, Kalyanaraman said modeling for the coronavirus curve indicates a peak anywhere between now and the end of May.

"We are seeing escalating numbers of hospitalizations so, we are surging," Kalyanaraman said. "The reality is we won't know until they start coming down. You just don't know the peak until you're not in peak anymore."

Some of Anne Arundel's cases can be traced back to nursing homes and other senior living facilities. At least 37 people have tested positive at Waugh Chapel Center in Gambrills, and three residents have died. At Brightview Severna Park, two residents died of complications from the virus "several weeks ago", according to a spokeswoman for the Brightview.

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Cases by zip code

Here is an alphabetical breakdown of the number of cases in each ZIP code in Anne Arundel County (as of Thursday). This data uses the county's numbers. State numbers are in parentheses. ZIP codes that overlap more than one county are in italics.

* Annapolis (21401): 118 (131)

* Annapolis (21403): 88 (88)

* Annapolis (21409): 23 (25)

* Annapolis Junction (20701): 1 (N/A)

* Arnold (21012): 26 (82)

* Brooklyn (21225): 23 (83)

* BWI Airport (21240): 0 (N/A)

* Churchton (20733): 5 (N/A)

* Crofton (21114): 32 (55)

* Crownsville (21032): 13 (24)

* Curtis Bay (21226): 7 (14)

* Davidsonville (21035): 5 (N/A)

* Deale (20751): 8 (N/A)

* Dunkirk (20754): 0 (10)

* Edgewater (21037): 26 (46)

* Fort George G. Meade (20755): N/A (9)

* Friendship (20758): 0 (N/A)

* Galesville (20765): 1 (N/A)

* Gambrills (21054): 26 (50)

* Gibson Island (21056): 0 (N/A)

* Glen Burnie (21060): 63 (67)

* Glen Burnie (21061): 114 (119)

* Hanover (21076): 40 (53)

* Harmans (21077): 1 (N/A)

* Harwood (20776): 1 (N/A)

* Jessup (20794): 8 (75)

* Laurel (20724): 60 (64)

* Linthicum Heights (21090): 11 (27)

* Lothian (20711): 13 (12)

* Millersville (21108): 26 (32)

* Naval Academy (21402): N/A (N/A)

* North Beach (20714): 2 (9)

* Odenton (21113): 40 (43)

* Owings (20736): 0 (10)

* Pasadena (21122): 89 (87)

* Riva (21140): 3 (N/A)

* Severn (21144): 48 (52)

* Severna Park (21146): 32 (41)

* Shady Side (20764): 13 (12)

* Sherwood Forest (21405): 3 (N/A)

* Tracys Landing (20779): 0 (N/A)

* West River (20778): 0 (N/A)

Caption: Nurse practitioner Deb Needle speaks with a patient in their car. Chesapeake ERgent Care, in Gambrills, started drive-thru coronavirus testing Monday for select people that meet CDC criteria and test negative for other viruses.

Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette