The Montgomery County Department of Health on Wednesday added more COVID-19 data to its public dashboard that tracks standards local officials have set for reopening.
On Wednesday, the dashboard was updated to include data about the percentage of county hospitals’ intensive care beds that are used, the percentage of administered tests that return positive results and the number of tests administered. The three-day average for each data point is published on the dashboard.
When Gov. Larry Hogan this month announced that the state was ready to begin its first phase of reopening, local officials said Montgomery County was not ready. They established benchmarks the county needs to reach before loosening restrictions.
On Wednesday, Hogan announced further loosening of restrictions, while Montgomery County has not begun the first phase of reopening. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, when Montgomery County officials will “announce plans for reopening Montgomery County,” according to a media advisory sent Wednesday night.
Montgomery County data, updated at noon daily, track three-day averages to determine trends because of “outliers” in the data.
The metrics also measure the number of days out of the last 14 that had improvement. The criteria must at least show “substantial progress” to move forward with reopening, according to the county’s dashboard.
The county reports having met three of nine benchmarks: coronavirus-related hospitalizations, the percentage of ventilators in use and the percentage of intensive care beds in use.
Prior to Wednesday afternoon, the county was posting and tracking seven benchmarks on its site. The county did not post an explanation of why it added two benchmarks on Wednesday.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Hogan criticized the data Montgomery County is using.
“I’m not sure he’s aware of the latest information — this is new CDC guidelines. The fact that his positivity rates have dropped by 53% — there seems to be some confusion,” Hogan said. “The county leaders aren’t really paying attention to the state plan. They’re kind of making up their own metrics.”
Hogan said the county should not be considering the number of new daily cases for its reopening.
The county data posted Wednesday afternoon were:
● Number of new confirmed positive cases each day: 182 (three-day average); nine declining days out of the last 14
● Number of COVID-19 new deaths each day: four (three-day average); eight declining days
● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 341 (three-day average); 10 declining days
● Number of COVID-19 related emergency room patients: 16 (three-day average); five declining days
● COVID-19 related intensive-care unit hospitalizations: 120 (three-day average); seven declining days
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 73% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 1 of the last 14 days
● Intensive Care Unit bed utilization rate: 64% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 80% or less has been met for 14 of the last 14 days
● Percentage of ventilators in use: 54% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 14 straight days
● Test positivity rate: 16% (three-day average); nine of 14 declining days
The county also posted information about tests administered: 1,099 (three-day average). This information is not a benchmark the county is using to determine its readiness to reopen, but is included in the dashboard with the nine standards.
As of Thursday morning, Montgomery County had 10,752 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of about 3% from Wednesday, according to state data.
Data show 542 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Montgomery County, up from 535 on Wednesday.
Another 39 patients had been ruled as “probable” COVID-19 deaths, meaning the virus is the suspected cause of death but it was not confirmed by a laboratory test.
There have been 49,709 confirmed coronavirus cases across the state as of Thursday morning. There were 2,307 confirmed deaths and 121 “probable” deaths.
On Thursday, there were 1,334 COVID-19 patients in the hospital in the state, which included 823 in acute care and 511 in intensive care.
The race and ethnicity breakdown for the number of cases is:
• African American (14,473 cases, 952 confirmed deaths)
• White (9,762 cases, 960 confirmed deaths)
• Hispanic (12,422 cases, 208 confirmed deaths)
• Asian (938 cases, 88 confirmed deaths)
• Other (2,458 cases, 29 confirmed deaths)
• Data not available (9,656 cases, 70 confirmed deaths)
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To see a timeline of major coronavirus developments in Maryland and Montgomery County, click here.
