Positivity

suppressed.

The county recorded the first two cases of the virus in March 2020 and this week marks the 49th week since the virus surfaced in the county.

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

Chester County is the only county in the region to see a slight increase in the positivity rate during the seven-day period ending Feb. 4. Chester County’s positivity rate is currently 7.5%, up from 7.0% recorded the week ending Jan. 28.

Lehigh County continued to record the highest positivity rate in the region at 11.1% for the period ending Feb. 4, which was a decrease from 13.3% the previous week.

Montgomery County’s other neighboring counties recorded the following percent-positivity rates during the seven-day period ending Feb. 4: Bucks (10.6%); Berks (9.7%); Delaware (7.4%); and Philadelphia (6.5%), according to state statistics.

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 percentpositivity rate as of Feb. 4 was 8.6%, down from the 9.3% positivity rate recorded the previous week, according to the dashboard.

“This is the first week in many, many weeks that we are seeing counties with lower than five percent positivity rates as well as all 67 counties reporting lower than 20 percent positivity rates. This is good news for mitigating the spread of this virus in our communities across the commonwealth,” Wolf said on Monday.

As of Feb. 4, the state recorded a seven-day case increase of 20,204 cases of the virus. The previous sevenday increase was 25,985 cases, indicating 5,781 fewer new cases across the state over the past week compared to the previous week.

According to state health officials, 59 counties currently remain in the substantial level of community transmission, the highest level of transmission. Cameron County is the only county in the state to record a low level of community transmission. Counties in the moderate level of community transmission include Armstrong, Bedford, Cambria, Elk, Indiana, Westmoreland and Wyoming.

“We can continue to fight this virus by wearing a mask, avoiding gatherings, washing hands, downloading the COVID Alert PA app, answering the call when public health professionals call and lastly, getting vaccinated when it’s your turn,” Wolf said.

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.

“We appreciate all residents who have taken steps to mitigate the spread in our communities and, while this

fight is not over, our resilience in masking up, washing up and downloading the app are still as important as ever,” state Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said.

On Monday, state officials also reported that 725,549 state residents had received

the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines and 286,604 people had received the full two doses through Feb. 7.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses to achieve optimum protection.

State officials reported that 56,351 Montgomery County residents had received a first dose of the vaccine and 15,712 people had received the full two doses through Feb. 7.

State and 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.