County Records Lowest Number Of New COVID-19 Cases Since April 15

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County's coronavirus case count increased by 84 on Monday, marking the lowest number of new infections since April 15, according to health officials.

The latest figure published by the Maryland Health Department pushes the countywide case total to 12,818. Three more people have lost their lives to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, since Sunday. The death toll now stands at 620.

Another 39, health officials believe, may have had COVID-19, but died without ever getting tested. "Probable deaths" aren't included in the official fatality count until they are confirmed by a laboratory test.

Maryland's most populous jurisdiction 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 16,523, according to the latest figures.

The two hard-hit counties opted out of reopening with the rest of the state last month because the number of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations were not plateauing. They both entered phase one of their respective reopening plans on June 1.

Most parts of the state reopened on May 15, after Gov. Larry Hogan said he saw a 14-day decline in cases and hospitalizations.

As of Monday, Maryland has 58,404 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,653 deaths. Another 123likely died from the disease and never got tested, according to state data.

Of the 979 people currently hospitalized in Maryland, 392 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has not released a plan for phase two of reopening, saying he will not move forward until he sees more improvements in local health metrics. To date, the county has met seven of its nine benchmarks to begin reopening.