Daily rise in Montgomery County COVID-19 cases has been below 2% for a week

County added two confirmed deaths on Thursday, for new total of 635

June 11, 2020 2:45 p.m.

The increase of coronavirus cases in Montgomery County has been below 2% each day for the past week.

On Thursday, the county recorded an increase of 1.2%, bringing its total to 13,276 cases. 

The daily increase by percentage in the county’s caseload has been in the single digits consistently for the past two months, and every day since May 2.

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The Maryland Department of Health reported two new confirmed deaths from the virus in the county on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 635. 

There have been 39 “probable” deaths from the virus. “Probable” deaths have the coronavirus listed as the cause on death certificates but have not been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Montgomery County has consistently had the highest number of deaths caused by the virus in the state. It has the second highest number of cases behind Prince George’s County, which has had 16,940 as of Thursday morning.

Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday announced that under phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan, he was easing restrictions on some businesses, such as outdoor amusement activities and indoor restaurant seating, both of which could reopen at 50% capacity starting on Friday at 5 p.m.

Montgomery County, though, is reopening on a later timetable.

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Before Hogan’s announcement on Wednesday, County Executive Marc Elrich said the county will enter phase 2 of its reopening plan next week, but did not specify which day. He said the county will move to phase 2 if “the data seems reasonable.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the county was meeting or making significant progress in seven of 10 benchmarks it is using for guidance on how it can reopen. The first phase of Montgomery County’s reopening began on June 1.

The county updates data for its benchmarks by 2 p.m. each day. As of Wednesday afternoon, the benchmarks that have been met or had significant progress are:

● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 255 (three-day average); 14 declining days
● Number of COVID-19 related emergency room patients: six (three-day average); 14 declining days
● COVID-19 related intensive-care unit hospitalizations: 93 (three-day average); 14 declining days
● ICU bed utilization rate: 69% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 80% or less has been met for 14 days
● Percentage of ventilators in use: 55% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 14 days
● Test positivity: 11% (three-day average); 14 declining days
● Number of COVID-19 new deaths each day: five (three-day average); 13 declining days over 14 days

The benchmarks that haven’t been met are:

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● Number of new confirmed positive cases each day: 130 (three-day average); nine declining days over 14 days
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 69% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for five days
● Tests administered: 1,071 (three-day average); 3.5% testing capacity in the last 30 days (the county benchmark is to test 5% of its population every month)

Across the state as of Thursday morning, there had been 60,197 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,750 deaths.

More than 463,000 tests had been administered, and there was a positivity rate of 7.3%. More than 332,000 people have tested negative for the virus.

There are 902 people currently hospitalized with the virus — 544 are in acute care and 358 are in intensive care. 

People age 30 to 39 have recorded the most number of cases in the state, but there have been the most deaths among those older than 80.

African Americans account for 17,345 cases and 1,133 deaths from the virus. Among the Hispanic population, there have been 16,293 cases and 273 deaths.

Whites account for 11,770 cases and 1,164 deaths and Asians account for 1,176 and 104 deaths.

Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media

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