Coronavirus Latest: MoCo Hits 700 Deaths; Phase 3 Is A No-Go

BETHESDA, MD — Confirmed coronavirus cases in Montgomery County ticked up by 66 on Wednesday, to 14,803, while the number of people who have died from the disease rose by one, bringing the local death toll to 700.

The official fatality count doesn't include the 39 others whose deaths were linked to the virus, but never confirmed by a lab test. They are considered "probable deaths."

The county continues to have the highest number of deaths in the state. It also has the second highest number of confirmed cases, after Prince George's County, which has 18,645, according to the latest figures.

With a population of roughly 1.1 million, Montgomery County has tested 8.8 percent of its residents, state data shows.

Gov. Larry Hogan said he wants each jurisdiction to test at least 10 percent of its population. Somerset County has tested the most, with 19.3 percent. Queen Anne's and Cecil counties are tied for last, with 5.4 percent.

During a weekly COVID-19 media briefing on Wednesday, Montgomery County officials said they will not be moving into Phase Three for at least another week.

"I can tell you, it's not going to happen on Friday. And we're not going into Phase Three on Monday," said County Health Officer Travis Gayles. "Because right now ... I think everybody across the country is taking a step back and pausing to see what's going to happen to determine if the influx of new cases in these other areas impact us. Also, coming up this weekend, we have a holiday. What's going to be the impact of folks traveling on the holiday?"

County Executive Marc Elrich said he will have a better idea as to when the county can move into Phase Three in a little over a week.

"We are going to wait until we've got at least a week from this weekend to make sure we don't see a spike in cases," he said."We will be discussing this next weekend and we will move forward as appropriate."

In recent weeks, more than a dozen states have paused or rolled back their coronavirus reopening plans after seeing spikes in new cases. Among them are Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas. Maryland's numbers, however, remain steady.

As of Tuesday, Maryland had 67,918 positive infections, 3,077 confirmed deaths, and 128 "probable deaths."

Of the 461 coronavirus patients currently hospitalized, 154 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).