COVID-19 In Montgomery Co: 29 New Cases, Positivity Rate Drops

BETHESDA, MD — Montgomery County registered 29 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, as well as one more death associated with the virus.

The latest additions push the total number of confirmed cases and deaths in the county to 70,585 and 1,491, respectively.

The local fatality count does not include the 46 others whose deaths were linked to the virus but never confirmed by a lab test. For now, they are considered "probable deaths."

Montgomery County — which is home to roughly 1 million people — continues to have the highest number of deaths in the state. It also has the second-highest number of confirmed cases, after Prince George's County, which has 84,561, according to the latest figures.

Across Maryland, there have been 456,765 cases, 8,766 confirmed deaths, and 191 "probable deaths." Of the 585 people currently being hospitalized statewide, 155 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The positivity rate measures the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive in a one-week span. According to data released Wednesday, Maryland's test positivity rate is 2.19 percent. In Montgomery County, it's 1.29 percent — down from 1.37 percent the day before.

To date, Maryland has administered 5,683,193 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Among those, 3,042,933 were first doses and 2,421,223 were second doses.

In Montgomery County, 625,205 residents (59.5 percent) have received their first dose. A total of 503,543 residents (47.9 percent) have already gotten their second and final shot.