COVID Positivity Rate Drops Below 9% In Montco: See Latest Data

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — The percent positivity rate on coronavirus tests continues to steadily drop in Montgomery County, falling more than a point over the past week following a nearly tw0-point drop the week before.

The county's rate now sits at 8.8 percent, according to the latest data available from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, covering the time period from Jan. 15 through Jan. 21. This is the lowest rate the county has seen since Nov. 30, 2020, as the fall surge was building.

It's the second straight week that all six of the key metrics tracked by the Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard dropped notably in the county.

It comes as the county continues to labor through its vaccine administration program, with some 250,000 individuals now in the 1A category and only 5,000 new shipments of the vaccine coming in per week. (For more vaccine updates in Montgomery County, see here). At the current rate, it could take "many months," or even up to a year, until the 1B category is eligible to receive the vaccine.

And even should the vaccine program be fast-tracked the way county officials want it to be, there's still work to be done. Health officials say a rate of 5 percent or lower is a sign that the virus is largely suppressed.

Total case numbers in the county dropped by another 300 last week, from 2,314 to 2,001. This comes after a 500-case drop the week previous.

The incidence rate per 100,000 residents saw a similar decline, from 278 to 240.

Meanwhile, healthcare metrics remain strong. The average daily number of hospitalizations is down to 341, after sitting at 429 just two weeks ago. It's the lowest this number has been since early November, statistics show.

The percentage of emergency room visits due to COVID-19 held steady at 0.8 percent, while the average daily number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators fell from 41 to 38.

All six of these metrics are lower in Montgomery County than Pennsylvania's statewide numbers, although state metrics have seen parallel drops. Notably, the statewide percent positivity rate on tests is now down to 10.5 percent.