County rate up as state spread still ‘substantial’

HARRISBURG» Montgomery County’s coronavirus percent-positivity rate increased slightly as the county entered the 44th week of the pandemic, according to the latest data compiled by state health officials.

For the period Dec. 25 to Dec. 31, Montgomery County recorded a COVID-19 percent-positivity rate of 11.4%, an increase from the 10.5% positivity rate recorded during the seven-day period Dec. 18 to Dec. 24, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard.

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

The county recorded the first two cases of the virus in March and this week marks the 44th week since the virus surfaced in the county.

Each of Montgomery County’s six neighboring counties also recorded positivity rates above the 5% threshold for the most recent seven-day period, according to the state’s data.

Lehigh County recorded the highest positivity rate in the region at 18.5% for the period ending Dec. 31, which was a decrease from 20% the previous week.

Montgomery County’s other neighboring counties recorded the following percent-positivity rates during the seven-day period ending Dec. 31: Berks (16.8%); Bucks (15.4%); Delaware (12.3%); Philadelphia (12.1%); and Chester (11.4%), according to state data.

Gov. Tom 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 statewide percent-positivity rate as of Dec. 31 was 15% which was the same as the positivity rate recorded the previous week, according to the dashboard.

As of Dec. 31, the state recorded a seven-day increase of 40,407 COVID-19 cases. The previous seven-day increase was 48,883 cases, indicating 8,476 fewer new cases across the state over the past week compared to the previous week.

“Although the decrease in our statewide positivity rate is small, it is still encouraging,” Wolf said on Monday.

“The sacrifices Pennsylvanians took over the holidays to celebrate differently than usual and with people inside your household are signs of our continued resilience and drive to fight against COVID-19. We must continue these best practices to stay safe and keep our friends, family and loved ones safe while COVID-19 remains a threat in our communities,” Wolf added.

Last month, state officials implemented temporary restrictions for three weeks, prohibiting indoor dining, limiting indoor gatherings to 10 people, closing gyms and capping retail businesses at 50% capacity to help mitigate the spread of the virus during the holiday period. The temporary restrictions went into effect Dec. 12 and expired at 8 a.m. on Monday.

Wolf said the time-limited mitigation orders did help to begin flattening the curve of new cases following the post-Thanksgiving surge in the state.

“Our mitigation efforts over the past several weeks are working, and I thank everyone who abided by the restrictions put in place to protect us,” Wolf said. “Every time we make a small decision to avoid risk — or take steps to make our actions a little bit less risky — we are helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”

With the expiration of the time-limited orders on Monday, the state’s mitigation efforts reverted to mitigation orders that were in place on Dec. 11.

State and county officials urged residents to continue to abide by all mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing recommendations and to download the COVID Alert PA app and to cooperate with contact tracers.

COVID Alert PA is a free mobile app, offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, that uses Bluetooth low energy technology and the Exposure Notification System, created jointly by Google and Apple, to notify and give public health guidance to anyone who may have been in close contact with a person who also has the app and has tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, for the period Jan. 1 to Jan. 4, Montgomery County recorded a total of 1,234 new positive cases of the virus, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 34,456 since March 7 when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county. Seventyseven of the 1,234 new cases were residents of long-term care facilities, according to county data.

County officials also reported six more COVID-19 deaths between Jan. 1 and Jan. 4, bringing the county’s death toll to 1,024 since March.

As of Monday, there were 445 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 at the county’s nine hospitals and 50 of those patients required ventilators.

On Monday, state officials reported that through Jan. 3 there were 135,044 first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines administered statewide. The state reported on Monday that 7,699 doses of the two available vaccines had been administered thus far in Montgomery County.

Pennsylvania is still in Phase 1A of the three-phase vaccine distribution plan.

County health officials have said the start of the vaccination program is promising news but added it will still take some time until everyone can be vaccinated and therefore people will have to continue to follow mitigation efforts to protect the health system and themselves.

State officials said all 67 counties in the state are in the substantial level of community transmission.

“This week we report a significant decrease in individuals responding to our case investigations,” state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said on Monday. “We continue to urge Pennsylvanians to answer the call and complete the case investigation in order to ensure those they were in close contact with are informed of their exposure. This protects friends, family, loved ones and the health care system.

“Please answer the call — answer the call when a public health professional is calling, complete the case investigation whether it is over the phone or through the new Connect & Protect Form and answer the call to download the COVID Alert PA free app,” Levine added.

“Although the decrease in our statewide positivity rate is small, it is still encouraging.” — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf