Around Maryland

COVID-19 testing is well underway for thousands of Baltimore City school students and staff members ahead of a districtwide return to campus Thursday. More than 21,000 Baltimore City high school students will be among the first to get tested Wednesday morning, but as it turns out, some started getting in line a day early.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education voted 7-1 on Wednesday evening to waive quarantine requirements for asymptomatic students who have come into contact with a COVID-19 case, a move that should reduce the number of students who are at home and away from the classroom, according to Superintendent George Arlotto. Right now 2,438 students are in quarantine in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, missing in-person classes despite never experiencing symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19 in some cases.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Maryland, health departments scrambled to set up testing centers where people could go to get swabbed for the viral infection. The sites often had long lines but were open most days. After vaccines for the coronavirus became available, many of those sites transitioned into inoculation centers that also offered testing, but many of those sites scaled back or closed as more and more Marylanders got vaccinated.

With COVID-19 cases again on the rise and a new strain emerging, those in public health are urging all U.S. adults to get booster shots of the vaccine. But another group — people who never came back for their second dose — is getting less attention. At least 6.5% of the more than 4 million vaccinated Marylanders haven’t returned for the second shot of the two-dose regimen on the recommended timeline, an analysis of state data by The Baltimore Sun shows. The shots are typically scheduled three or four weeks apart, respectively, for the most widely used vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Baltimore will offer public internet access inside and outside recreation centers and install an additional 100 community Wi-Fi hot spots with a $6 million investment in federal funding announced by Mayor Brandon Scott on Tuesday. The funding, which is the city’s latest allocation from a $641 million pot of money from the American Rescue Plan, will be used to run fiber to 23 recreation centers, allowing residents to access the internet from the surrounding area.

Ever since she was a student at Rockledge Elementary in Bowie, Md., Omolayo Adebayo has always had the desire to give back to those in need. Now, 32, Adebayo of Bowie does that and more through her nonprofit organization, the Neighborhood Well. Founded in 2017, the organization has sought to meet the unhoused and others. Adebayo and her team started out by giving “Blessing Bags,” bundles of food, toiletries and other resources while also offering support through talking and praying with those in the surrounding Hyattsville community.

When Tanya Smith retired from the Prince George’s County Police Department last year, she decided to go back to work. For Smith, 59, that meant getting back to what she loved most about her job: meeting with neighbors, connecting them to resources and, at times, passing out ice cream. “It’s all about the people,” she said. “My joy is the people. My joy is seeing a difference. My joy is being a part of making a difference for the children to come up.”