Montco COVID Cases Decrease 16 Percent: Latest Numbers

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Coronavirus cases continue to steeply drop in Montgomery County, continuing a positive trend over the past several weeks in both the local area and across the state.

Cases in Montgomery County dropped 16 percent over the most recently tracked seven day period, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard. This covers the period of Jan. 22 to Jan. 28.

That period of time saw new cases drop from 2,036 the week previous, to 1,698. As recently as mid-December, the weekly number was nearly twice that, at 3,307.

>>Coronavirus Vaccine In Montgomery County: Latest Updates

The positivity rate also saw another decline, down 0.2 points to 8.5 percent. Montgomery County remains better than Pennsylvania overall, which sits at 9.3 percent.

Similarly, the incidence rate per 100,000 residents has dropped from 245 to 204 in the most recently tracked period.

All three healthcare metrics covered in the dashboard also fell in Montgomery County.

The average daily number of hospitalizations went from 341 to 276, the lowest mark since November.

The percentage of emergency room visits due to COVID-19 symptoms fell from 0.8 percent to 0.7 percent. And the average number of patients on ventilators a day is down to 27, from 38 last week.

Keeping this metrics low is especially important as the winter months continue, and things are looking much more optimistic in the near future: warmer weather will help stop some of the spread of the virus. And, of course, though the vaccination process is not going the way anyone wants it to, more and more of the population is receiving doses every day.