Montgomery County added 110 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a 0.8% increase from Tuesday.
As of Wednesday morning, Montgomery County had 13,819 known cases of the virus.
It was the fifth time in six days that the county had a daily increase in cases of less than 1%.
On Monday afternoon, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced that the county will move into the next phase of reopening on Friday. A press release said the county has “achieved its benchmarks,” which are used for guidance in determining when it is safe to lift more restrictions for businesses and amenities.
A data dashboard, run by the county Department of Health and Human Services, shows the county meeting or making “significant progress” on eight of 10 benchmarks. The data are updated by 2 p.m. each day.
The eight benchmarks that the dashboard shows to be met or showing significant progress are:
● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 199 (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: 75 (three-day average); 14 declining days
● ICU bed utilization rate: 59% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 80% or less has been met for 14 days
● Percentage of ventilators in use: 43% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 14 days
● Test positivity: 7% (three-day average); 14 declining days
● Number of COVID-19 new deaths each day: four (three-day average); 13 declining days
● Number of new confirmed positive cases each day: 58 (three-day average); 12 declining days
The two benchmarks that the dashboard shows haven’t been met are:
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 68% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 10 days
● Tests administered: 1,302 (three-day average); 3.9% testing capacity in the last 30 days (the county’s goal is to test 5% of its population each month)
The county added six new confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to state data. The total of confirmed deaths in the county is now 664.
Another 40 deaths are considered “probable,” meaning COVID-19 is listed as the cause on a death certificate but it has not been confirmed through a laboratory test.
Across Maryland, there have been 62,969 cases of the coronavirus, according to Wednesday’s data. That’s an increase of 560 cases, or 0.9%, from Tuesday.
There have been 2,866 confirmed deaths in Maryland. The statewide positivity rate is 5.8%.
