New COVID Cases Down 20 Percent In Montco: Latest Figures

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — After a post-holiday surge that impacted much of Pennsylvania, Montgomery County is moving in the right direction again, as new cases in the county saw about a 20 percent decrease in the most recent statistics available from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The drop of around 500 cases, down to 2,232, was one of six key coronavirus metrics tracked by the state that improved over the period from Jan. 8 to Jan. 14.

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The 14-day daily average of 340, meanwhile, is now lower than it has been since early December.

Wednesday, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkosoh said that she didn't expect numbers to get much lower than this in the coming weeks, at least not until the vaccine is widely distributed.

Similarly, the county saw its percent positivity rate on tests fall by nearly two points, from 11.7 to 9.8 percent. The decrease was similar to the statewide decrease down to 12.7 percent this week.

While still short of the 5 percent "concerning" rate noted by officials, 9.8 percent is also the lowest the rate has been since the fall surge started to kick up in November and December.

As the surge was still building in early November, it stood at 7.42 percent on Nov. 11. But just a month earlier on Oct. 7, it had hit a record low of 2.24 percent. So there's still work to be done.

Another metric that dropped sharply in the most recent state report was the incidence rate per 100,000 residents, falling from 328 to 268.

All three healthcare metrics showed notable improvement. The percentage of emergency room visits in the county due to the virus fell from 0.9 percent to 0.7 percent. And the average daily number of patients on ventilators fell from 47 to 41.

The hospitalization rate, importantly, is down to 386 from 429 last week, according to the state. The county's numbers, which were updated more recently on Jan. 20, show that decrease even more sharply down to 324. The hospitalization rate has not been this low in the county since Nov. 27, according to statistics.

But officials continue to warn about stress on the healthcare system. For reference, just 34 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the county as recently as Oct. 19.