Montgomery County's Coronavirus Cases Surpass 12,000

ROCKVILLE, MD — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Montgomery County surpassed 12,000 on Thursday, according to Maryland health officials, while the death toll from the disease edged closer to 600.

Hard-hit Montgomery County, the most populous jurisdiction in the state, now has 12,226 cases. That's an increase of 302 positive infections from the previous day.

The local death toll now stands at 596. A day earlier, it was 593.

Another 40 people may have died from COVID-19, but were never tested, according to health officials. The state will not add those deaths to the official tally until a laboratory can confirm the virus was the cause of death.

The county, which is home to roughly 1.1 million residents, has 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 15,940, according to the latest figures.

On Wednesday, Montgomery County met six of its nine benchmarks to begin reopening. It has reached its 14-day benchmarks for:

• The rate at which ICU beds are being used (goal is less than 80 percent)
• The rate at which ventilators are being used (goal is less than 70 percent)
• The number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations
• The number of coronavirus-related emergency room patients
• The number of coronavirus-related ICU hospitalizations
• The test positivity rate

To meet these benchmarks, health officials say the county must see 14 days of fewer cases, deaths, hospitalizations, patients, and tests on a three-day rolling average. The data calculates a three-day rolling average because of potential outliers, like the occasional 24-hour spikes in the aforementioned metrics.

Montgomery and Prince George's 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.

In Montgomery County, phase one meant restaurants could reopen for outdoor dining, barbershops and hair salons could serve customers by appointment only, and outdoor day camps could resume in groups no more than 10.

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 Thursday, Maryland has 55,858 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,546 deaths. Another 122 likely died from the disease without ever getting tested, according to state data.

There are 1,096 coronavirus patients currently hospitalized in Maryland. Of that, 456 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).