MARYLAND, USA — The fight against COVID-19 reached a milestone in Maryland on Wednesday when state health data showed fewer than 100 reported new cases of the disease, the first time the mark has been reached since March of 2020.
According to the Maryland Department of Health, 65 new cases of COVID-19 were reported around the state on Wednesday.
The data marked the lowest number of new cases reported since March 25th of last year and came after 939 new cases were reported the same time last month.
The Department of Health also noted how the state's case rate dropped to under three per 100,000 people, the first time the level had been reached since late March of 2020.
After a challenging year for medical crews all over the country, a Maryland nurse who spoke to WUSA9 welcomed the developments on Wednesday.
"It brought so much joy to me to let us know that we’re on the right track," said Ursula Bishop, who works at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. "This last year has been like no other. I’ve never experienced what I’ve experienced with Covid.”
Bishop has been serving as a full-time nurse educator in the area helping with the new graduate residency program.
However, due to the demand for care seen during the pandemic, she has joined many other medical workers on the front lines fighting the spread of coronavirus.
On Wednesday, she recounted some of the stories she experienced while at the hospital.
"I can remember one shift that I worked when in the beginning of the shift I lost one patient. The middle of the shift, I lost another patient. The end of the shift, I lost my third patient," Bishop said. "Most of the time you were there because the family was unable to be there at the bedside. I found myself crying.”
Bishop could also remember a specific moment having to tell a husband sick with COVID-19 that his wife had passed from the illness.
"The husband was able to get off the ventilator," she said. "Once he got off the ventilator, he was looking for his wife. She was no longer there.”
Through it all, Bishop said her nursing team stuck together.
The pandemic brought many long hours and exhausting days, but with people now being vaccinated on a daily basis, she hoped the pandemic would soon be a thing of the past.
"Now, I see things starting to be more consistent. People are starting to get out more," she said. "I’m happy. I’m proud to be a nurse and I’m proud to be in this Covid fight."
"We’re going to fight until the end," Bishop added.