Through the first seven days of May, Montgomery County has averaged a 5% increase in new cases of COVID-19 each day.
On Thursday, the number of known cases increased by 242, or 4%, to 6,032.
Aside from May 1, when the number of local cases increased 11%, daily growth has been 5% or less each day.
The daily percentage increase was consistently in double digits as the number of cases rose in March and early April.
The county’s death toll rose to 315 on Thursday, 11 more than the day prior.
There were also 30 “probable” deaths in Montgomery County as of Thursday. In those cases, COVID-19 is designated as the cause on a death certificate, but the result has not been confirmed by laboratory tests.
There have been 29,374 COVID-19 cases statewide, and 1,401 people have been confirmed to have died from the virus, according to the Maryland Department of Health. There have been 102 probable deaths statewide.
Overall, Montgomery County has the second most coronavirus cases, after Prince George’s County, which had 8,516 cases as of Thursday. Montgomery County has recorded the most deaths.
There are 1,683 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, which includes 1,099 in acute care and 584 in intensive care. There have been 2,029 people released from isolation and more than 119,000 people have tested negative for the virus.
African Americans make up the largest number of cases, with 9,892, including 567 African Americans who have died of the virus. Among whites, there have been 6,468 cases and 580 deaths, and Hispanic people account for 5,726 cases and 96 deaths.
In Montgomery County, more white people have died of the coronavirus, but the death rate for African Americans is higher.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media.
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For other Bethesda Beat coverage of the coronavirus, click here.
To see a timeline of major coronavirus developments in Maryland and Montgomery County, click here.