Positivity rate is up across region
Chesco rate hits ‘concerning’ status on Pa. dashboard
HARRISBURG » Montgomery County continues to experience upticks in its coronavirus positivity rate and Chester County’s rate surged to a “concerning” rate, according to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
For the seven-day period Sept. 4 to Sept. 10, the percent-positivity rate for Montgomery County was 3.3 percent, according to the state’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard. That reflected an increase from the 3.1 percent-positivity rate the county recorded for the previous seven-day period Aug. 28 to Sept. 3.
Meanwhile, Chester County saw its percentpositivity rate increase to 6.5 percent for the period ending Sept. 10, up from 3.5 percent the previous week, according to state data. Gov. Tom Wolf routinely identifies those counties with positivity rates above 5 percent as counties with “concerning percent-positivity.”
Health officials believe having a positivity rate less than 5 percent indicates a county is controlling the spread of the virus and keeping it suppressed.
According to state data, for the most recent sevenday period ending Sept. 10, other neighboring counties recorded the following percent-positivity rates: Berks (4.9%); Delaware (4.4%); Bucks (4.0%); Lehigh (3.2%), and Philadelphia (3.2%).
Like Montgomery and Chester counties, Delaware, Lehigh and Bucks also experienced increases in their percent-positivity rates during the most recent seven-day period.
Wolf said the state’s COVID-19 dashboard is designed to provide early warning signs of factors that affect the state’s mitigation efforts. The data available on the dashboard includes week-over-week case differences, incidence rates, test percent-positivity, and rates of hospitalizations, ventilations and emergency room visits tied to COVID-19.
As of Sept. 10, the statewide percent-positivity rate increased to 4.2 percent from 3.9 percent the previous week, according to the dashboard. It was the second week in a row that the statewide positivity rate increased.
“Our percent positivity increased again this week, even while the number of new cases dropped, a sign that this virus continues to affect Pennsylvanians,” Wolf said on Monday.
“We must continue our focus on taking actions to protect ourselves and others, such as wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, washing our hands and avoiding large gatherings. Together, Pennsylvanians can be united to work to prevent the spread of the virus,” Wolf added.
On Monday, Montgomery County officials reported 117 more individuals tested positive for the coronavirus during the period Sept. 12 to 14, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 11,445 since March 7, when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county.
No new deaths were reported in the county during the three-day period, leaving the county’s COVID-19 death toll at 829.
To keep the positivity rate below 5 percent, Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh stressed residents should continue to abide by all mask wearing, handwashing and social distancing recommendations.
“Unfortunately, we continue to see an increase in the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County,” Arkoosh said in a statement last week. “I cannot stress enough how important it is to cooperate with contact tracing, wear a mask when around people who are not in your household, maintain six feet of physical distance and be very cautious at or avoid social gatherings. Let’s each do our part to keep our families and our community safe!”