Montco Hopes To Avoid More School Closures As Cases Rise

NORRISTOWN, PA — As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise at an alarming rate in Montgomery County, officials are still hopeful that they can avoid any further mandatory closures of schools and businesses. But they also said that if things do not improve, their hand could be forced.

"I would always hope that this could be done voluntarily," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said Wednesday of efforts to mitigate the spread of the disease. "But if people are not able to do that voluntarily, we may find ourselves in a situation very soon where we don't have any choice but to support some closures."

>>Montco Hospitals Have Overloaded Emergency Rooms, Staff Shortages

Specifically, rising hospital numbers has been frequently mentioned as a metric that could lead to stricter mitigation measures and closures. Basic personal responsibility like mask wearing, social distancing, and not attending large social gatherings are more vital now than ever, especially when it comes to preventing any other closures.

"There's not gonna be another easy way to get these numbers down if people don't start to change their behavior," Arkoosh added.

>>As Board Of Health Order Expires, Montco Schools Face Choice

Many schools around Montgomery County returned to their hybrid education models on Monday when the Board of Health's two-week mandatory closure order expired. The highly controversial decision had initially left many opponents of the move concerned that the county would extend the order beyond the initially stated Dec. 7 ending date.

But the order was lifted on schedule. What effect the order had is still unclear, as specific data on how many cases have been seen amongst the school-aged population since Thanksgiving is not yet available. Officials said they think they will have a better idea of what effect it may have had in schools by next week.

But countywide, the latest statistics have shown another sharp rise in the prevalence of the virus since Thanksgiving, similar to the steep bump after Halloween.

The county's three highest case days of the entire pandemic occurred in the days following Thanksgiving, county statistics show. Officials called the surge within the surge "unprecedented."

While many schools in the county have returned to their pre-closure order schedule, several others remain fully virtual as they continue to evaluate post-Thanksgiving numbers.