As many places are reopening and with the holiday season starting to get into full swing the number of Coronavirus cases has been on the rise. On Nov. 27, there were 2,570 new cases of COVID-19 in the State of Maryland. Anne Arundel county is gaining approximately 100 cases a day at this point. “People should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings,” Dr. Fauci, The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said when discussing COVID. 

On Oct. 28, the AAC reported 49 new cases, over a four week period, updated on Nov. 18 the Anne Arundel Health Department  (AAHD) reported 96 new cases in those four weeks. The AAHD has seen a rise of cases in AAC over the last four weeks, averaging 164.4 new cases every day — from Nov. 11- Nov.16.  That’s a “rate of COVID-19 of 32.27 cases per 10,000 over the last four weeks,” according to the AAC Covid-19 Data, over the last four weeks. 

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Those types of gatherings are exactly the types of events that are most concerning because of the larger number of people without masks or distancing. One of the challenges is that while the students are young and healthy and more likely to manage having Covid without too much of a problem, they do pass it on to other family members who are older and more likely to have complications from covid. That’s the core message, even if you aren’t worried about getting covid, the person you give it to may not be in as good a position as you are.

— Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, MD, FACP

The rise in cases might be because of recent gatherings in the community, including FOCO, otherwise known as Fake Homecoming that happened in lieu of canceled homecoming on Oct. 24. Students gathered in backyards to celebrate what should have been a week filled with school spirit events, a school wide pep rally culminating into a home football game, crowning of the homecoming court and dance.  None of which happened because of the pandemic. For senior Molly Beairsto, it’s been a “senior year of perpetual doom.

Students have also been hosting community bonfires and get-togethers as the weather has turned cooler.  Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the Health Officer for Anne Arundel County Department of Health said, ”Those types of gatherings are exactly the types of events that are most concerning because of the larger number of people without masks or distancing. One of the challenges is that while the students are young and healthy and more likely to manage having Covid without too much of a problem, they do pass it on to other family members who are older and more likely to have complications from covid. That’s the core message, even if you aren’t worried about getting covid, the person you give it to may not be in as good a position as you are.”

Following Thanksgiving, it is almost certain that there will be a spike in the number of cases. Even though some people followed the regulations for gathering, many people didn’t. There were also a large number of people shopping at grocery stores during the few days leading up to Thanksgiving.

If you look at Black-Fridays in the past, they have been very crowded and the stores were packed. There were a lot of companies working to make the day safer and online for the most part. The sales for places like Amazon, Target, and other major companies have been extended from Friday to Monday.

Following social distancing and mask regulations will help to control the spread of COVID-19, but people need to continue to be cautious even through the holidays.