Maryland Reports 64 COVID-Related Deaths Including Five in Montgomery County

Montgomery County COVID-19 Statistics

The Maryland Department of Health reported 438 new COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County Wednesday morning. The county’s cumulative case count is 40,500.

The county has a rolling seven-day average of 6.32% for positive COVID-19 tests, which is an increase of 0.02 from Tuesday’s average rate of 6.3%. The county’s positivity rate is lower than in 16 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions.

Montgomery County recorded five new coronavirus-related fatalities Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 995.

Montgomery County leads the state in total COVID-19 related fatalities. Prince George’s County has 980 fatalities and the most coronavirus cases in the state with 48,718 cases.

County and state health officials are monitoring the surge in COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospital bed utilization closely.

Gov. Larry Hogan announced at Tuesday’s coronavirus news conference that every Maryland hospital will receive COVID-19 vaccine doses over the next two weeks.  Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center and Adventist Health Care White Oak Medical Center are expected to receive 975 doses each this week. MedStar Health, which includes Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, is also preparing to receive doses this week and has purchased several ultra-cold freezers to store them.

The Montgomery County Council approved new COVID-19 restrictions which went into effect Tuesday at 5 p.m. The restrictions include a ban on indoor dining at restaurants and further capacity limitations at retail locations and indoor sports.  During Tuesday’s Council meeting, County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles told the Council that hospitals are reaching capacity for ICU and acute care beds.

As of Wednesday, 14 schools in the state are reporting COVID-19 cases, none are located in Montgomery County.

The Montgomery County Board of Education met Tuesday and they unanimously agreed the earliest students will return to the classroom is Feb. 1 and that only will occur if the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate is 5% or below and there are fewer than 15 new cases daily for every 100,000 residents. Wednesday’s positivity rate, reported by the state, is 6.32% and has not been below 5% since Nov. 30.

Maryland COVID-19 Statistics

Wednesday the state recorded 2,405 new infections. This is the 16th consecutive day the state recorded more than two thousand new cases. The state’s cumulative case count is 241,767.

COVID-19 related hospitalizations continue to climb. On Wednesday, the state reported 1,762 patients were hospitalized across the state with the virus.

Wednesday the state recorded 64 newly reported deaths, bringing the state death toll to 5,103. This is the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the state since May.

The state reported a rolling seven-day average of 7.49% for positive COVID-19 tests Wednesday. This is a decrease of 0.04 from Tuesday’s rate of 7.53%.

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