Montco records low positivity rate

HARRISBURG Montgomery County has the fourth-lowest coronavirus positivity rate in southeast Pennsylvania, behind Lehigh, Chester and Bucks counties, according to the latest data from the state Department of Health.

For the period Aug. 14 to 20, the percent-positivity rate for Montgomery County was 3.0%, according to the state’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard. That was an increase from the 2.9 percent-positivity rate the county recorded for the previous seven-day period Aug. 7 to 13.

While the county previously had the lowest COVID-19 percent-positivity rate among all southeast Pennsylvania counties, Lehigh County now has the lowest at 1.4% and Chester and Bucks counties each recorded a positivity rate of 2.5%,

according to the statistics.

Health officials believe having a positivity rate less than 5% indicates a county is controlling the spread of the virus and keeping it suppressed.

Lehigh County, with its current 1.4% positivity rate, saw the steepest decline in its positivity rate during the seven-day period, having had posted a positivity rate of 4.0% during the week of Aug. 7 to 13.

Chester County saw its positivity rate fall to 2.5% on Aug. 20, down from 3.4% recorded during the period Aug. 7 to 13.

According to state data, for the most recent sevenday

period ending Aug. 20, other neighboring counties recorded the following percent-positivity rates: Delaware (4.3%); Berks (4.8%) and Philadelphia (3.9%).

Gov. Tom Wolf has 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. 20, the statewide percent-positivity rate decreased to 3.4% from 4.0% the previous week.

To keep the positivity rate below 5%, 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.

“Montgomery County’s 14-day positivity rate has been under 5% since June 18 and continues to trend slowly downward. This is great news but not a reason to let up on masking, social distancing, hand hygiene, testing and contact tracing,” Arkoosh said last week. “Our low positivity rate is a result of so many Montco residents heeding the call to do the right thing to protect our entire community. Keep your good work and your mask up!”