MoCo Delays Phase 3 As It Hits 20,190 Coronavirus Cases

SILVER SPRING, MD — Confirmed coronavirus cases in Montgomery County rose by 87 to 20,190, the Maryland Department of Health reported Wednesday, while the death toll remained at 782.

Thirty-nine others may have died from COVID-19, but a lab test was never conducted. They are considered "probable deaths."

Statewide, there have been 109,319 confirmed cases, 3,623 deaths, and 143 "probable deaths." Of the 370 currently hospitalized for the virus, 113 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Wednesday's additions come less than 24 hours after Gov. Larry Hogan announced that the state could advance to phase three of his reopening plan on Friday.

Montgomery County — which has the state's second-highest number of coronavirus cases after Prince George's County — has moved through its reopening phases at a slower pace than most of Maryland. To date, the county is in phase two, which it has been in since mid-June.

"I am a bit disappointed"

Under Hogan's plan for phase three, all businesses can reopen, although some restrictions remain for the size of gatherings at churches and movie theaters. That will go into effect on Friday at 5 p.m.

On Wednesday, County Executive Marc Elrich said he was disappointed that the state was moving into phase three, adding that the county should remain in phase two until further notice.

"I am a bit disappointed in the approach that Maryland is taking in going directly into phase three. I guess I'm disappointed because none of the elected officials in the state got consulted on this. Nobody asked us what do you know, what do you think, what are you hearing, what are you experiencing — and neither were the health officials," Elrich said. "We are going into an area that is not being guided, in my perspective and from other people's perspective, by medical approach — but more guided by the desire to reopen businesses."

Elrich said that he understands the desire to reopen businesses but doesn't "want the tax revenue if the price to be paid is more sick people and more fatalities in our community."

"It is not worth it if you can't do it safely," he said.

Getting to phase three

Like Elrich, County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles doesn't believe it's time to move forward just yet.

"We're not saying our cases have spiked up," Gayles said. "But what we are saying is we've plateaued over the last month ... and we haven't seen a continued improvement in the numbers to suggest that we add on more activities ... that could potentially cause a significant increase in cases."

The number of new coronavirus cases in the county are down since they've peaked in mid-May. But in the last month, the county has had anywhere between 47 and 97 confirmed cases.

According to Gayles, the county cannot move into phase three without seeing low or moderate levels of transmission.

"Moderate transmission, for us, is somewhere in the mid 30s on a daily basis. And low transmission is 10 cases per day," he said. "You have to sustain those improvements over a period of time, because otherwise it creates a false sense of security that the viral load has truly come down."

Neither Gayles nor Elrich gave a timeline for phase three.

The county executive, however, did say he would review Hogan's orders over the next couple days to see what modifications could be made for the county in phase two.