As Montgomery County begins to prepare for its second phase of reopening on Friday, COVID-19 testing is still not where the county wants it to be.
Dr. Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, said during a media briefing on Wednesday that the county is making progress on increasing testing, but it plans to significantly increase it to reach more of the population.
Also on Wednesday, the county launched its “COVID Corps” — a summer employment program for residents ages 16 and 23. The program will train individuals in different tasks related to the response to the pandemic.
Gayles said during the briefing that around 7% of the county’s population has been tested so far, but the testing capacity over 30 days is still 3.8%. The county’s goal is to test 5% of its population every month.
On May 21, the county announced a contract with Rockville molecular diagnostics lab AdvaGenix to boost testing capacity to 20,000 per week starting June 8.
During the first phase, the company was supposed to provide at least 7,500 self-administered oral swab tests a week — providing results in less than 48 hours.
The second phase of testing was initially scheduled to begin during the week of May 31.
But the tests were delayed because the lab’s system was still being modified to be able to share data with the state, county officials said last week.
On Wednesday, Gayles said the registration system for the tests is up and running, and will hopefully be “green-lighted shortly.” Some pilots of the testing have been conducted with county employees.
Some test kits for the first phase — focusing on first responders, nursing homes and assisted facility residents and staff members, and employees of the county’s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation — have started to be used
The second phase will be expanded to essential county employees, hospital staff members and health care providers. The last phase will expand the testing to essential business employees and the general public.
“We have started to test in a limited capacity and soon as [there are] final details, which hopefully [happens] today, we’ll be able to launch some of those larger-scale testing efforts with those priority groups that we’ve mentioned,” he said.
Testing accessibility will also be increased with the county’s plans to start its mobile testing unit next week.
Areas of the county that don’t have nearby testing options, such as downtown Silver Spring, are being considered for additional testing sites.
The positions available in the COVID Corps program include:
● Packaging, distributing and delivering meals to vulnerable populations
● Community outreach and translation assistance
● Teaching and mentoring seniors on how to use technology, online resources and methods to stay connected
● Inventorying, sanitizing vehicles, installing social distancing signage, reconfiguring spaces to help county departments prepare for employees’ return to work
● Working with a team to respond to urgent eligible project requests from nonprofits and county agencies.
The pay for the positions is $14 per hour.
The county will enter phase 2 of reopening on Friday at 5 p.m., allowing pools, gyms, nail salons, child care programs, and other businesses and entities to start opening their doors, with limitations on capacity and distancing.
During the briefing, Elrich warned that business employees and residents should continue to wear masks.
To reopen, businesses must require employees to wear face coverings. No patrons are allowed inside businesses without a face covering. The only exception is when someone is eating or drinking at a restaurant.
“This is not negotiable. It’s not optional. It’s a condition of what people have to do to reopen and it’s an expectation that we have,” he said. “The only reason we got to this point is because of physical distancing and face coverings.”
Gayles said residents should be vigilant now more than ever to help the county move forward with reopening and keep coronavirus cases down. Reinstituting restrictions is possible if conditions worsen, he said.
Although the county has met or seen significant progress in its reopening benchmarks , Gayles said officials will need to see “even more significant decreases in terms of being able to move forward” to a third phase of reopening.
To move to phase 2, Gayles waited for 14 days of data on tracked conditions of the health crisis before deciding whether to move forward. He said the same time period would apply before potentially moving into phase 3.
“While we are happy to see the numbers, in terms of averages, being in the 50s and 60s versus 100s or 200s, we need [those] numbers to drop even more. … The bigger picture is making sure those numbers are as low as possible.”
Elrich said he hopes people will continue to follow guidelines during July 4 celebrations. Fireworks and sparklers can’t be purchase in the county, and many events, including the county’s, are canceled.
“I don’t have enough police to drive by every street and every part and make sure that everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Elrich said. “So far, I think people have been pretty responsible and pretty responsive to what we’ve asked them to do.
“We’re hoping they can resist the temptation to break out of that on July 4. That would just be a mistake. I think most people get that.”
Briana Adhikusuma can be reached at briana.adhikusuma@moco360.media.