COVID-19 Cases Fall Again In County, 34% Are Fully Vaccinated

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County registered 52 new coronavirus infections overnight, down from 56 on Monday, data released by the Maryland Department of Health showed.

Tuesday's addition pushes the countywide total to 69,528 cases. It's the second-smallest increase in COVID-19 infections since Sept. 8, 2020 — when 48 new cases were recorded.

One more coronavirus-related fatality was added overnight, bringing the local death toll since the pandemic began to 1,472.

Health officials believe that 46 others had the virus, but died before ever getting tested. For now, they are considered "probable deaths." They won't be added to the official fatality count until confirmatory lab tests are performed.

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 82,515, according to the latest figures.

Across Maryland, there have been 444,491 cases, 8,501 confirmed deaths, and 187 "probable deaths." Of the 1,130 people currently being hospitalized statewide, 269 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 Tuesday, Maryland's test positivity rate is 4.04 percent. In Montgomery County, it's 2.15 percent — down from 2.45 percent the day before.

To date, Maryland has administered 4,433,750 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Among those, 2,557,188 were first doses and 1,695,608 were second doses.

In Montgomery County, 537,650 residents (51.2 percent) have received their first dose. A total of 358,906 residents (34.2 percent) have already gotten their second and final shot.