Montgomery County Adds 169 Coronavirus Cases; Amends Death Toll

SILVER SPRING, MD — The number of coronavirus cases in Montgomery County climbed by 169, the Maryland Department of Health reported Tuesday, bringing its local total to 15,332.

Tuesday's addition comes one day after the county recorded its smallest daily increase in coronavirus cases since late March.

Maryland health officials have adjusted the county's COVID-19 deaths from 715 to 714. Sometimes preliminary fatality data are amended based on additional reporting.

On Maryland's coronavirus page, it says "death data are presented by both date of report and by date of death and are updated as amendments to the death record are received."

That new total of 714 does not include the 38 others who deaths were linked to the virus, but never confirmed by a lab test. They are considered "probable deaths" — and will not be added to the fatality count until officials can confirm the cause of death.

Montgomery County 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 19,182, according to the latest figures.

The two hardest hit jurisdictions only entered phase two of their respective reopening plans in mid-June. A majority of the state moved into the second stage of Gov. Larry Hogan's recovery plan in early June after seeing consistent declines in coronavirus infections, deaths, and hospitalizations.

Even as Montgomery County is now seeing more improvements in its reopening benchmarks, County Executive Marc Elrich is putting phase three on hold. Last week, the Democrat said he wouldn't announce a reopening date until he knew there weren't any surges tied to Independence Day celebrations.

Given the incubation period for COVID-19, an announcement may not come for another two weeks.

Data for reopening benchmarks can be found on the county's online coronavirus dashboard — which is updated daily around 2 p.m.

Across Maryland, there have been 70,396 coronavirus cases, 3,140 confirmed deaths, and 126 "probable deaths." Of the 404 patients being hospitalized for the disease, 145 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Maryland's test positivity rate ticked up slightly, from 4.51 percent on Monday to 4.53 percent on Tuesday. In Montgomery County, the test positivity rate is 5.15 percent. A day earlier, it was 5.1 percent.

To date, the county has tested 9.8 percent of its population.

Here's a closer look: