Reporting by Caterina Erdas from her home in Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore City is the largest city in Maryland and is a separate county from the surrounding area. It sits above the Patapsco River which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore City was established in 1729 as a Catholic and Irish refuge, and the Inner Harbor has been a major port for the East Coast since its beginnings. Today, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, and military service industries place Baltimore as Maryland’s economic hub. Just over 600,00 people live in Baltimore city. In 2015, the Baltimore City riot and protests about police brutality after the murder of Freddie Gray brought the world’s attention. In addition to corruption in government and the police force, Baltimore city is faced with crime, drugs, human trafficking, gentrification, poverty, and general education problems. 

The Baltimore government and its people recognize the danger of COVID-19. The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, has issued a stay-at-home directive and closure of all non-essential businesses. The people who can afford to stay at their homes take social distancing seriously and remain at home. The people who cannot work from home, mask up for their job.

Since Baltimore has a majority black population and a large proportion of low-income families, big changes have been put in place to protect vulnerable demographics from the negative health and economic effects of COVID-19. As more demographic statistics on infected individuals are being gathered, COVID-19 deaths are disproportionally found in black communities because of bias in the healthcare system and less access to health resources presently and before the pandemic. Breakfast and lunch pick-up locations are shared widely through social media. Public schools throughout the city are distributing food to families that drive-through and inform families about free resources they can access in these times. Almost everyone wears a cloth or filtered mask in areas where you cannot social distance (busy streets, public transportation, grocery stores).

Baltimore City and the surrounding area have a high density of hospitals, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, so there are many medical institutions and medical professionals that are prepared for the rise in patients. Maryland and Baltimore City have been able to see COVID-19 spread in Seattle and New York, and had time to make informed predictions and preparations for its local peak in patients. The Baltimore City Convention Center has been turned into a field hospital that can host 250 patients who are recovering from non-critical symptoms and free up hospital beds for people who need intensive care. Johns Hopkins will be leading research to see if plasma-blood from recovered COVID-19 patients can be used as a temporary treatment before a vaccine is available.