Yes, applying for a secured card does count as a hard inquiry most of the time. Nearly all secured credit cards will do a hard inquiry into applicants' credit reports to assess their creditworthiness, but there are exceptions such as the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card and the Applied Bank Secured Visa Gold Preferred Credit Card. These secured credit cards with no credit check will not do a hard pull on your credit when you apply.
A hard inquiry, also known as a hard pull, will likely drop your credit score by a few points temporarily. But if you haven't had any hard pulls conducted on your credit report over the past six months and you don't plan on applying for a sizable loan in the next few months, this shouldn't be a problem. Your credit score should rebound from a hard inquiry within a few months.
Also, remember that even though your credit score may drop after you apply, responsible use of a secured card will ultimately help your score much more than the inquiry will hurt it. The hard pull will likely be worth it, in other words, especially since secured cards tend to be pretty easy to get approved for. You can track your progress with free daily credit score and report updates from WalletHub.