Montco death toll rises to 314
400 county residents remain hospitalized
EAGLEVILLE » Montgomery County officials on Monday reported a total of eight more deaths from the coronavirus since Saturday, bringing the county’s death toll to 314 since March 7 when the county documented the first two cases of the virus.
The eight deaths included individuals who ranged in age from 52 to 94.
To date, 166 females and 148 males have died from the virus in the county. Officials said the racial breakdown for those that have died included: 12 Asian; two Asian Indian; three Asian Korean; 29 African American; and 93 white. Information about the ethnicity of the remaining 175 individuals was unavailable.
The 314 total deaths were “confirmed positive” COVID-19 cases through the use of lab tests, county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh explained during a Monday news briefing at the county Emergency Operation Center.
Officials reported that as of Monday, 156 other deaths in the county have been listed as “probable” COVID-19 deaths. Those are deaths that list COVID-19 as a cause of death on a death certificate but in which there was no laboratory confirmation of the virus.
Meanwhile, officials reported a total of 185 new positive cases of the virus since Saturday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 4,570 since March 7. Sixtyfour of the latest individuals to test positive reside in a long-term care facility, officials said.
The new positive individuals are residents of 35 municipalities. To date, 61 of the county’s 62 municipalities are home to individuals with COVID-19. Bryn Athyn is the only municipality that has not reported a case of the virus.
The new positive cases included 75 males and 110 females whose ages ranged from 6 to 99. At least three of the individuals are hospitalized, officials said.
“Our hospital beds continue to be stable,” said Arkoosh, explaining currently, about 400 COVID-19 patients remain hospitalized in the county and about 25-percent of the patients are on ventilators in the intensive care units.
“Thankfully, because you have been doing a good job of staying at home, we continue to have hospital beds available in all of our hospitals, both regular beds as well as intensive care unit beds, and we continue to have enough ventilators,” added Arkoosh, who was joined at the Monday news briefing by fellow commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. and Dr. Alvin Wang, regional EMS medical director.
County officials continue to monitor coronavirus data from the 75 long-term care facilities in the county that are licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as well as from “other congregate care settings that have overnight services” in the county, for a total of about 620 facilities.
As of Monday, 90 of the facilities reported positive COVID-19 cases among residents and staff. Specifically, officials reported there are 1,175 cases among residents of the facilities and 520 cases among staff at the facilities, for a total of 1,695 positive individuals. Officials pointed out that not all of the individuals are from Montgomery County and that some came from other areas of the region.
While some officials in other counties want state health officials to separate COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities from the number of total infections when deciding when to ease stayat-home restrictions in counties, Arkoosh appeared to side with state officials who said it’s important to include nursing home cases in the total case counts.
“These are our grandparents, our parents, our brothers and sisters. They are there for lots of different reasons. These are members of our community and they should be treated with respect and care as we would any of our parents or grandparents,” said Arkoosh, adding when COVID-19 positive individuals from nursing homes have to go to a hospital they are having contact with others in the community.
“When these individuals go to the hospital…they usually go there by an ambulance so they call 911 and that brings a paramedic team to safely transport them to the hospital. And then once in the hospital they are obviously occupying a bed in the hospital and using those hospital resources. So, in my mind, they absolutely count, both as human beings, most importantly, but also as individuals that could make use of our health care system,” Arkoosh added.
During a 48-hour period ending April 24, county officials tested every inmate and staff member at the county jail in Lower Providence for the virus.
A total of 942 inmates were tested at the facility and 171 of the inmates tested positive, representing about 18-percent of the inmate population, according to the complete results.
Arkoosh said that as of Monday, all 171 inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 remained asymptomatic and are in isolation.
Officials previously identified six other inmates at the jail who tested positive, bringing the total number of inmates who tested positive since the outbreak began to 177.
Officials reported that the community-based testing sites in Whitpain and Norristown, between April 16 and May 1, had tested 3,266 individuals for the virus. Officials received results for 3,117 of the individuals and determined that 466 of the individuals, or about 15-percent, were positive for the virus.
The 15-percent positive rate is a decrease from a peak positive rate of 24-percent that officials reported around April 5.
The drive-thru testing site at the central campus of the Montgomery County Community College in Whitpain is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily as testing supplies allow. Registration for each day’s appointments will open at 8 a.m. daily and will remain open until all available spots are filled. Individuals can register online at www.montcopa. org/COVID-19
Individuals who do not have access to the internet or do not have an email address can call 610-631-3000 to register for a testing appointment.
A walk-up communitybased testing site for Norristown residents is located on the parking lot of the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center, 1401 DeKalb St. The free testing is provided by appointment only from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Norristown residents can register for testing by calling 610-592-0680 starting at 8:30 a.m. daily.