COVID-19 cases go up again in Montco
Montgomery County officials reported 23 new positive cases of coronavirus Tuesday and announced relaxed criteria for those residents seeking a test at the county’s first mass testing site in Upper Dublin.
The 23 new cases of COVID-19 bring the county’s total number of cases to 159 since March 7.
“That doesn’t mean that we have 159 people that are still ill. It’s quite possible that in those early days some of those folks have recovered and are doing fine,” county Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said during a news briefing.
The new cases in the county included 11 men and 12 women whose ages ranged between 22 and 86. Two of the individuals are hospitalized, Arkoosh said.
The new reported positive cases of COVID-19
droplets, a face mask, by design, does not filter or block very small particles in the air that may be transmitted by coughs, sneezes, or certain medical procedures. Surgical masks also do not provide complete protection from germs and other contaminants because of the loose fit between the surface of the face mask and your face.”
But any barrier is helpful. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has indicated that supply has gotten so short, “as a last resort, homemade masks” like a bandanna or a scarf can be used, although their protective ability is unknown.
Part of the reason for the shortage, according to Sunday’s New York Times, is that about half the world’s masks are manufactured in China, which has been holding on to them in the midst of its own health crisis.
“The outbreak also comes after a particularly mask-intensive few months. Wildfires in California and in Australia had already diminished the supply of some humanitarian organizations,” the New York Times reported. included individuals from 17 municipalities.
Officials previously reported one coronavirus death in the county, a 72-year-old Abington man, but Arkoosh said Tuesday that she has not been notified of “any additional loss of life.”
Statewide, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, there were a total of 851 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of noon Tuesday.
Neighboring Delaware County reported 84 cases and Chester County reported 40 positive cases while Bucks County reported 65 cases, according to state officials. Berks County reported 16 cases, Lehigh County reported 27 cases and Philadelphia had 177 cases by noon.
Officials said they anticipated seeing an increase in the number of individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus, given the fact the county is now testing more people.
Arkoosh continued to reinforce the “social distancing and mitigation measures” recommended by health officials to help prevent the spread of the virus. To emphasize the importance of those measures the commissioners shared a graphic that showed that without social distancing, one person with COVID-19 is estimated to infect 2.5 people.
“So over a 30-day period, that one person with no social distancing measures could potentially infect 406 people,” Arkoosh said. “If we can reduce that exposure by 50%, so now that one person infects 1.25 people, by 30 days there have only been a total of 15 people infected.”
And if officials can reduce exposure by 75%, then after 30 days less than two people would be infected, according to the research cited by Arkoosh.
“So you can see what a dramatic difference it can make right here in our community if we all just stay home, unless absolutely necessary,” Arkoosh said.
Officials said the county’s community-based COVID-19
testing site, which began operating Friday at Temple University’s Ambler Campus in Upper Dublin, initially for first responders and health care workers and currently for members of the general public who meet specific criteria, has tested more than 1,100 people.
“Things are going very smoothly there,” said Arkoosh, who was joined at the news conference by fellow commissioners Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. and Joseph C. Gale, and Dr. Alvin Wang, regional EMS medical director, and Dr. Brenda Weis, administrator of the Office of Public Health.
Arkoosh thanked Temple University and Upper Dublin officials for their support and the Pennsylvania National Guard’s medical unit, which is administering the tests.
National Guard officials said Tuesday that as many as 275 people have been tested each day. At the direction of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, about 80 members of the National Guard support the county’s operation of the first mass testing site.