Montgomery County Coronavirus Infections Rose 3.6% In Past Day

SILVER SPRING, MD — The number of people who have contracted COVID-19 in Montgomery County has increased by 265 — or 3.6 percent — to 7,548 in the past day, according to data released by Maryland health officials on Thursday.

In that same time span, 11 more people have died from the new coronavirus — pushing the local fatality count to 397. Another 40 people may have died from COVID-19, but a laboratory test is still needed to confirm the cause of death.

The latest figures were released less than a day after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced that he would be lifting the state's stay-at-home order on Friday. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said the county wasn't ready to reopen.

The county — which is home to roughly 1 million residents — has the highest number of deaths. It also has the second highest number of confirmed cases, after Prince George's County, which has 10,449.

"We believe the local health conditions don't warrant this change in policy," Elrich said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "We do not yet have the metrics that were set up by the CDC and by the governor at the beginning of this. Those metrics have not yet been achieved."

Maryland as a whole, however, has achieved those metrics, Hogan said.

Statewide, there are now 35,903 cases and 1,748 deaths. Another 118, health officials believe, may have had COVID-19 but died before ever being tested.

Of the 1,538 coronavirus patients in hospital, 569 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

To date, 142,551 have tested negative for the disease and 2,569 have been released from isolation.

Here's a closer look:

Confirmed Infections, Deaths By County

A case count by jurisdiction can be found below. Montgomery County is outlined in bright blue.

Note: For the table below, a number with an asterisk represents a "probable death."

ICU, Acute Hospital Beds In Use

An interactive version of the graph can be found here.

Confirmed, Probable Deaths Totals By Date

An interactive version of the graph can be found here.