With 66 new cases recorded on Wednesday, Montgomery County’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased by about 0.5% per day in the past week.
On Wednesday, the county’s total rose to 17,976, a 0.37% increase from the day prior.
The growth continued the county’s recent trend of daily growth at less than 1%, and was the third consecutive day increasing less than 0.5%.
According to the state, Montgomery County’s positivity rate has dropped to a record low of 2.52% — down more than 92% since its peak on April 20.
There have been 755 confirmed COVID-19 deaths from the virus in Montgomery County. No new deaths were added since Tuesday.
There have also been 39 “probable” deaths from the coronavirus, meaning the disease is listed as the cause on a death certificate, but that was not confirmed by a laboratory test.
There have been 92,426 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Maryland as of Wednesday morning. There have been 3,402 confirmed deaths and 134 probable deaths in the state.
Montgomery County officials are using certain metrics to help determine how and when the county should expand its reopening. Those benchmarks are updated by 2 p.m. every day.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the county’s data dashboard showed the following data for each benchmark:
● COVID-19 related hospitalizations: 85 (three-day average); eight declining days out of 14
● COVID-19 related intensive-care unit hospitalizations: 28 (three-day average); 11 declining days out of 14
● ICU unit bed utilization rate: 64% (three-day average); the county’s goal of 80% or less has been met for 11 days out of 14
● Percentage of ventilators in use: 26% (three-day average); the county’s goal of 70% or less has been met for 14 out of 14 days
● Test positivity: 2.4% (three-day average); 14 out of 14 declining days
● Tests administered: 4,137 (three-day average); the county’s testing capacity is at 9.1% for the last 30 days
● Number of new confirmed cases: 82 (three-day average); five declining days out of 14
● Number of new COVID-19 related deaths: 2 (three-day average); 10 declining days out of 14
● Number of COVID-19 related emergency room patients: 6 (three-day average); nine declining days out of 14
● Acute care bed utilization rate: 69% (three-day average); the county’s goal of 70% or less has been met for six days out of 14
Across Maryland, more than 1.3 million tests have been administered, with a positivity rate of 4%.