Around Maryland

Have New Year’s fitness goals or just itching to play a game of pickup basketball? If you’re a Montgomery County, Maryland, resident, you can have full access to fitness rooms and many recreational activities for free this year. The county announced on Dec. 27 that free RecFit passes will be available again after their extreme popularity last year.

The University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health unveiled a 130,000-square-foot medical center in Aberdeen on Wednesday that will provide care for thousands of patients as part of a $260 million plan to grow the health care system in Harford County.\ The University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen combines a traditional emergency department with a behavioral health pavilion at 660 McHenry Road.

Daniela Krahe likely will never know the tall gentleman’s name. He was dead when they met, so she didn’t get the chance to ask. She’ll never know where the man grew up or whether he had siblings. She won’t know what made him laugh, what movies he liked to watch or what meal his mother used to make him when he was sick.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Frederick County notably increased at the start of December and have remained at about the same level coming into the new year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall rate of hospitalizations related to respiratory viruses across the state, including COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also rose after Thanksgiving and exceeded 10 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents throughout December.

Chronic absenteeism in Harford County Public Schools declined during the 2022-23 school year, according to a presentation at a Harford County Board of Education meeting last month. Harford County high schoolers saw the highest percentage of chronic absenteeism throughout the district at 28.3% during the last school year, according to the presentation.

Vaccinations are available locally and are extremely important during the evolving season of respiratory illnesses currently in Washington County, and county health officials are urging residents to take advantage of them. “Vaccination rates against flu, COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) are all low, which alongside ongoing increases of respiratory illness activity globally is the perfect storm for more severe disease in our community,” Health Officer Earl Stoner of the Washington County Health Department said in a news release.

Anne Arundel County’s two newest schools officially have names. The new high school will be named Severn Run High School and the new elementary school will be named Two Rivers Elementary School. Both are set to open this fall. At its first meeting of the new year, the Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt Superintendent Mark Bedell’s name recommendations.

Hundreds in and around the D.C. Metro area have reported feeling the effects of a small earthquake between Gaithersburg and Rockville, Maryland, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here’s what you need to know. Preliminary information reviewed by the agency placed the earthquake at a magnitude of 2.3, with more than 200 individuals reporting feeling a rumbling or loud noise.

Paisley Parsons is 10 years into his medical gender-affirming transition, and a majority of that time he’s spent looking for a good team of doctors in Maryland. Parsons, from near Hagerstown, had limited access to nearby care when starting his transition. Driving to Philadelphia, the District of Columbia or Baltimore were the best options to receive what he needed. “It took me probably six or seven years to find a team of doctors that I felt like was up to par, but prior to that, finding someone educated and competent was few and far between,” said Parsons.