Positivity rate remains low in Montco
HARRISBURG » While Montgomery County’s coronavirus positivity rate ticked up slightly last week, the county still has one of the lowest coronavirus positivity rates among southeast Pennsylvania counties, according to the latest data from the state Department of Health.
For the period Aug. 7 to Aug. 13 the percent-positivity rate for Montgomery County was 2.9 percent, according to the state’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard. That was an increase from the 2.5 percent-positivity rate the county recorded for the previous seven-day
“This is no time to let up. We need to continue doing what we’re doing so we can keep the spread of virus as low as possible in our area.”
- Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh
period July 31 to Aug. 6.
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 the data, Montgomery County currently has the second lowest percent-positivity rate in southeast Pennsylvania, behind Bucks County, which posted the lowest percentpositivity rate in the region, 2.5 percent for the period Aug. 7 to Aug. 13. That was a decrease from the 3.5 percent-positivity rate Bucks recorded the week before. According to state data, for the most recent sevenday period ending Aug. 13, other neighboring counties recorded the following percent-positivity rates: Chester (3.4%); Lehigh (4.0%); Delaware (4.6%); Philadelphia (4.6%); and Berks (5.0%). Berks, which saw its percent-positivity rate increase from 4.5 percent on Aug. 6 to 5.0 percent on Aug. 13, was one of the counties with “concerning percentpositivity,” Gov. Tom Wolf indicated on Friday. 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 Aug. 13, the statewide percent-positivity rate decreased to 4.0 percent from 4.1 percent the previous week.
“Our percent positivity decreased for the third week in a row, which is a testament to the testing occurring, and that testing is widely available throughout the state,” Wolf said on Friday. “However, with increased testing comes increased case counts. The virus is still circulating, and we must continue to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid large gatherings to keep our numbers low, stop the spread and allow more freedom,” Wolf added in a news release. 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. Arkoosh also urged residents to cooperate with contact tracers. “This is no time to let up. We need to continue doing what we’re doing so we can keep the spread of virus as low as possible in our area. This will let our businesses stay open. It will keep our hospitals and first responders safe,” Arkoosh said during her weekly news briefing. “Things continue to improve with our contact tracing. We continue to have anywhere between 94- and-96-percent of people that we contact, cooperate fully. So that’s fantastic.”