Montco reports 26 more deaths
EAGLEVILLE » Montgomery County officials on Wednesday reported 26 more deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the county’s death toll to 379 since March 7 when the county identified the first two cases of the virus.
County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh pointed out that 16 of the new reported deaths actually occurred in April and were just confirmed to county officials.
“It’s another example of how long it takes sometimes for all of the information to come together in a way that we can confirm it and report it,” Arkoosh
explained.
The 26 deaths included individuals who ranged in age from 62 to 102.
To date, 204 females and 175 males have died from the virus in the county. Officials said the racial breakdown for those that have died included: 12 Asian; three Asian Indian; three Asian Korean; 33 African American; and 103 white. Information about the ethnicity of the remaining 225 individuals was unavailable.
Arkoosh pointed out that 310 of the total 379 deaths were individuals who lived in long-term care facilities, representing about 82 percent of the total deaths.
The 379 total deaths were “confirmed positive” COVID-19 cases through the use of lab tests, Arkoosh explained during a Wednesday news briefing at the county Emergency Operation Center.
Officials reported that as of Wednesday, 162 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 123 new positive cases of the virus on Wednesday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 4,734 since March 7. Seventy-seven of the latest individuals to test positive resided in a long-term care facility.
“And the majority of these 77 results are from two facilities that have conducted testing of most or all of their residents,” Arkoosh explained.
The new positive individuals are residents of 25 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 48 males and 75 females whose ages ranged from 1 to 103. At least five of the individuals are hospitalized, officials said.
“Our hospital beds continue to hold 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.
“Thanks to all of your good work and sacrifices we continue to have hospital beds available in all of our county hospitals, both regular beds and intensive care unit beds, and we do have enough ventilators available. So this continues to be a bright spot in this fight,” added Arkoosh, emphasizing the importance of social distancing mitigation measures that health officials say can prevent the spread of the virus and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.
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” in the county, for a total of about 620 facilities.
As of Wednesday, 91 of the facilities reported positive COVID-19 cases among residents and staff. Specifically, officials reported there are 1,274 cases among residents of the facilities and 511 cases among staff at the facilities, for a total of 1,785 positive individuals.
County health officials have field assessment and support teams (FAST) that have visited 48 of the facilities as of Tuesday, providing guidance about Pennsylvania Department of Health and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols regarding infection control and proper use of personal protective equipment. Arkoosh said the commissioners received a debriefing from team members on Wednesday.
“The team wanted me to convey how sad so many of the workers are at these long-term care facilities as they have lost individuals that they have cared for, in many cases for years, and how frustrated and disappointed so many of them have been as they have tried very, very hard to keep this virus out of their facilities, but, as we know this virus is very treacherous and very contagious and obviously they have not all been successful in doing that,” said Arkoosh, who was joined at the news briefing by fellow commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. and Dr. Alvin Wang, regional EMS medical director, and Dr. Brenda Weis, administrator of the Office of Public Health.
Officials reported that the community-based testing sites in Whitpain and Norristown, between April 16 and May 4, had tested 3,655 individuals for the virus. Officials received results for 3,457 of the individuals and determined that 520 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 will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily as testing supplies allow. The site will be closed on Sunday. 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.
“Thanks to all of your good work and sacrifices we continue to have hospital beds available in all of our county hospitals, both regular beds and intensive care unit beds, and we do have enough ventilators available.”
- Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh