Montgomery County Adds 108 COVID-19 Cases Overnight

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County reported 108 new COVID-19 cases overnight, marking the ninth triple-digit increase in two weeks, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

Thursday's addition brings the local total to 24,772 infections. That's three times higher than the permissible limit county health officials set to move on to phase three.

The county has typically reopened at a slower rate than the rest of the state, due to higher COVID-19 numbers. Health officials say the county will not enter phase three until they see low and medium transmission levels — or 10 to 35 cases a day. Over the last three months, daily COVID-19 cases have hovered between 47 and 171.

In the last 24 hours, the county registered one new death, pushing the local death toll to 823.

Another 40 people, health officials believe, had the disease but died before ever getting tested. For now, they are considered "probable deaths" — and won't be added to the official fatality count until they are confirmed by a laboratory test.

Montgomery County — Maryland's most populous jurisdiction — has the second highest number of deaths and cases in the state, after Prince George's County, which has 828 fatalities and 31,844 infections, according to the latest figures.

Across Maryland, there have been 137,979 cases, 3,924 confirmed deaths, and 146 "probable deaths." Of the 458 people that are currently hospitalized, 125 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).