Montgomery County’s number of COVID-19 cases rose 2% on Sunday and is closing in on 10,000.
There have been 9,922 positive cases in the county, according to Maryland Department of Health data posted Sunday morning. That’s up from 9,699 on Saturday.
Eight more confirmed COVID-19 deaths were recorded, giving Montgomery County 522 total.
Another 36 deaths are considered “probable,” meaning that’s the cause listed on a death certificates but a lab test has not confirmed it.
Montgomery County’s “Data Dashboard” continues to show the county meeting two of seven benchmarks established to determine if it can begin reopening.
Those two benchmarks are hospitalizations related to COVID-19 and percentage of ventilators in use.
The dashboard shows moderate progress in four areas and no progress on the remaining standard.
The dashboard, which is updated daily, tracks conditions that Dr. Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, has set for reopening parts of the county. County Executive Marc Elrich said Wednesday during a media briefing that the county could potentially begin a partial reopening within the next week or two if some of the benchmarks show positive trends.
The data tracks three-day averages to determine trends because of some “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 a reopening, according to the county’s dashboard. The information is updated at noon each day.
The status of the conditions as of data posted Saturday afternoon are:
● Number of new confirmed positive cases each day: 216 (three-day average); eight declining days out of the last 14
● Number of COVID-19 new deaths each day: 13 (three-day average); eight declining days
● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 369 (three-day average); 11 declining days
● Number of COVID-19 related emergency room patients: 24 (three-day average); eight declining days
● COVID-19 related intensive-care unit hospitalizations: 124 (three-day average); eight declining days
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 74% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 0 of the last 14 days
● Percentage of ventilators in use: 53% (three-day average); the county benchmark of 70% or less has been met for 14 straight days
The figures released Sunday morning for cases and deaths show Maryland with 46,313 cases, an increase of 2% from Saturday.
Maryland has had 2,162 confirmed deaths, up from 2,130. Another 115 deaths are considered “probable.”
Montgomery County’s number of deaths is the highest in the state. The county is second in number of cases behind Prince George’s, which has had 13,521.
Maryland has 1,290 people hospitalized for COVID-19, with 787 in acute care and 503 in intensive care.
The number of people who have been hospitalized is 7,939.
The 80+ age group has had the most deaths, with 984.
The age groups with the most cases are 30-39, with 8,587, and 40-49, with 8,411.
The race and ethnicity breakdown for the number of cases is:
• African American (13,762 cases, 899 confirmed deaths)
• White (9,232 cases, 898 confirmed deaths)
• Hispanic (11,383 cases, 191 confirmed deaths)
• Asian (889 cases, 81 confirmed deaths)
• Other (2,272 cases, 28 confirmed deaths)
• Data not available (8,775 cases, 65 confirmed deaths)
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To see a timeline of major coronavirus developments in Maryland and Montgomery County, click here.