Quick story from 2020: In June, I asked the Rev. Derrick DeWitt, director of the Maryland Baptist Aged Home in West Baltimore, when he knew the threat of the coronavirus was real and that he had to take immediate action to protect his residents and staff. His answer: “Right after President Trump said we had 15 cases and it would soon be down to zero.”
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While attempting to get the COVID vaccine — a task that required making numerous inquiries to numerous websites instead of just one inquiry to a central website — I took a break for an hour and became a disease data nerd. I wanted to see how Maryland has fared through the pandemic compared to neighboring states.
This wasn’t just a way of killing time between submitting applications for vaccinations, but something I’ve been curious about: Where does one of the wealthiest states in the country, with so many big brains in residence, stack up compared to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware?
There are multiple ways to answer that question, but starting with a basic measure — the number of infections relative to population — Maryland has weathered the crisis better than our bordering states. It’s not a close call.
Hang with me as I run some numbers.
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Dan Rodricks 
Total agreement here, Dan. Our state’s high level of education is a positive thing in many, many respects. I wonder if a centralized sign-up was considered. I suspect most people don’t really care if they get the vaccine at this pharmacy or that hospital, so long as they get it.
The good news is that as more people get vaccines, the demand goes down, and thus, people should start to have an easier time getting appointments.
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