County Reports Fewer Than 200 Cases For Third Straight Day

BETHESDA, MD — Montgomery County reported 147 new cases of COVID-19, the third consecutive day health officials have recorded fewer than 200 cases, the Maryland Department of Health said Wednesday.

The latest addition pushes the county's total to 59,439 recorded infections — and comes one day after the jurisdiction recorded its smallest daily increase in months.

Tuesday's case count stood at 137. The last time health officials saw a smaller rise in daily infections was on Nov. 3, when they recorded 121 cases.

Seven more deaths were reported in the county on Wednesday, bringing the countywide death toll to 1,276.

The latest fatality count does not include the 44 others whose deaths were linked to the virus but never confirmed by a lab test. For now, they are considered "probable deaths."

Montgomery County, which is home to more than 1 million people, 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 68,490, according to the latest figures.

Across Maryland, there have been 357,483 coronavirus cases, 7,043 confirmed deaths, and 177 "probable deaths." Of the 1,485 patients being hospitalized for the disease statewide, 361 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).