Maryland’s public and private schools will receive $10 million in COVID-19 relief grants that are geared toward addressing the needs of the state’s most at-risk students, Gov. Larry Hogan and State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon said Wednesday.

“An essential part of Maryland’s recovery depends on giving every single child in Maryland the ability to safely return for in-person learning, Hogan said in a statement. “These funds will help provide support for our students who have suffered most in the pandemic, and help address learning loss experienced during virtual learning.”

“During this unprecedented time, we are focused on keeping classrooms safe and accessible to all students and addressing the academic and socio-emotional challenges that have arisen due to COVID-19,” Salmon said in a statement. “We are happy to support these innovative efforts by our partners to maintain connections between educators and students as we move forward.”

The grants were awarded through the federal government. One million dollars will go to ten different programs that are designed to foster creative education strategies for students who have been most affected by the pandemic. Maryland’s schools first reopened for in-person learning on March 1.

Baltimore City Public Schools, Harford County Public Schools, Prince George’s County Public Schools, Carroll County Public Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, Wicomico County Public Schools, and Reid Temple Christian Academy in Glenn Dale are included among the grant’s recipients.

The schools were awarded the grants for having implemented strategies that proved successful at improving the education of students who are economically disadvantaged or who have special learning needs. Some of those strategies included launching programs that address the mental health and personalized attention needs of students.

There are 420,526 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maryland as of Wednesday morning, according to the state’s Department of Health, and 8,203 people in Maryland have died from the virus. The state’s positivity rate is at 5.71%, which is above CDC recommended guidelines for containment. Maryland has conducted almost 9 million COVID-19 tests.

Maryland’s health care providers have administered more than 3.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. That includes 1,930,376 (31.93%) first doses and 1,079,140 (17.85%) second doses. More than 1.1 million people in Maryland are fully vaccinated, which is about a sixth of the state’s total population.