Gayles to Council: Peak in County COVID-19 Cases May Happen Within Next Week

The Montgomery County Council meets via Zoom.

Some COVID-19 models suggest that Montgomery County’s peak in cases will happen within the next week, said Chief of Montgomery County Public Health Services Dr. Travis Gayles. “Peak” refers to the maximum number of deaths and cases in one day. Gayles said the county Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) sent their most recent numbers to their statistician at the University of Maryland, and hope to have more information on projections Tuesday afternoon. 

Peak of transmission is different from peak hospitalization rate, Gayles emphasized at a county council meeting Tuesday. Peak of transmission is what is explained above, which is based on models and numbers and is the greatest burden of disease in regard to new cases. Peak hospitalization rate is informed by numbers, but also by quality of illness and the percentage of cases that require hospitalization. Those two factors impact hospital surges more than the peak number of cases, Gayles said. 

“There are multiple terms and actually it underscores why we’ve been very careful about how we speak about it in public and in terms of rushing to say ‘Yay, the peak of transmission is tomorrow’ because we recognize people will say ‘Oh, well if the peak is tomorrow, then after tomorrow we’re fine,’” Gayles said.  

Also, the DHHS is getting details on potentially setting up a phone hotline that patients without healthcare providers can use to get a referral for a COVID-19 test, said Gayles.

Gayles said this would address the issue of access to COVID-19 care for people who don’t have providers. The hotline would be staffed by a clinician who would evaluate a patient’s symptoms and order a COVID-19 test for the patient if they deem it necessary.

The Council meets remotely on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. See what’s on the agenda at https://t.co/ndlTHG3HOU.
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About Maryam Shahzad

Maryam is a reporter with Montgomery Community Media. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. Previously, she was an intern with MCM. She can be reached at mshahzad@mymcmedia.org or on Twitter @maryam_mcm.

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