Montgomery County COVID-19 hospitalizations increase

County has had 11,035 cases, 555 deaths related to virus

May 29, 2020 2:21 p.m.

The same day Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced a phased reopening will begin on Monday, county data showed an increase in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Considered a key metric that officials were tracking to decide when the reopening of businesses and public amenities could start, the average number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations had been declining since the data were first released last week.

But on Thursday afternoon, new data showed the average number of hospitalizations had increased for the second consecutive day.

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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.

On Monday and Tuesday, the three-day average of Montgomery County residents hospitalized with COVID-19 was 337 patients. The rate increased to 341 patients on Wednesday and again to 347 patients on Thursday.

The average number of patients in local hospitals’ intensive care units (ICU) and the average number of new positive cases also increased slightly since Monday.

Another benchmark is the average percentage of hospitals’ acute care beds, which was at 74% as of Thursday, compared to 71% on Monday. The county’s goal is to have less than 70% of its acute care beds in use, a benchmark that has been met only one of the past 14 days.

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The county reports having met two of nine benchmarks: the percentage of ventilators in use and the percentage of intensive care beds in use.

On Wednesday, the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations was also listed as a benchmark that had been met.

The county data posted Wednesday afternoon were:
● Number of new confirmed positive cases each day: 214 (three-day average); nine declining days out of the last 14
● Number of COVID-19 new deaths each day: five (three-day average); seven declining days
● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 347 (three-day average); nine declining days
● Number of COVID-19 related emergency room patients: 10 (three-day average); six declining days
● COVID-19 related intensive-care unit hospitalizations: 122 (three-day average); six declining days
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 74% (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: 65% (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: 57% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 14 straight days
● Test positivity rate: 14% (three-day average); eight of 14 declining days

The county also posted information about tests administered: 1,222 (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 Friday morning, Montgomery County had 11,035 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of about 3% from Thursday, according to state data.

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Data show 555 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Montgomery County, up from 542 on Thursday.

Another 40 deaths had been ruled as “probable,” meaning the virus is the suspected cause but it was not confirmed by a laboratory test.

There have been 50,988 confirmed coronavirus cases across the state as of Friday morning. There were 2,348 confirmed deaths and 118 “probable” deaths.

On Thursday, there were 1,296 COVID-19 patients in the hospital in the state, which included 789 in acute care and 507 in intensive care.

The race and ethnicity breakdown for the number of cases is:
• African American (15,613 cases, 972 confirmed deaths)
• White (9,869 cases, 982 confirmed deaths)
• Hispanic (12,610 cases, 215 confirmed deaths)
• Asian (948 cases, 89 confirmed deaths)
• Other (2,478 cases, 30 confirmed deaths)
• Data not available (10,470 cases, 60 confirmed deaths)

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For other Bethesda Beat coverage of the coronavirus, click here.

To see a timeline of  major coronavirus developments in Maryland and Montgomery County, click here

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