COVID-19 ‘going the wrong way’ in Montco

As the COVID-19 positivity rate, hospitalizations and the number of more contagious variants of the virus are beginning to spike in Montgomery County, officials warned residents to remain vigilant in the fight against the virus.

“For the past week, all of our numbers are going the wrong way, including numbers of cases and numbers of hospitalizations,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh warned during a news briefing on Wednesday. “So, we are not out of the woods yet and we need everyone to continue to work together to stop the spread. This situation remains serious.”

According to the latest county data, the overall 14-day CO

“We are not out of the woods yet and we need everyone to continue to work together to stop the spread. This situation remains serious.”

- Dr. Valerie Arkoosh

VID-19 positivity rate for the county, as of March 18, was 5.21% which was an increase from the 4.83% positivity rate recorded during the previous 14-day period ending March 11.

Health officials believe a positivity rate below 5% indicates a county is suppressing the spread of the virus.

“It is starting to tick back up and has been above 5% on a daily basis for the last couple of days,” Arkoosh said.

Additionally, as of Wednesday, 137 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in the county’s nine hospitals, up from 110 a week ago, and nine of the patients required ventilators. Comparatively, last Oct. 21, there were only 24 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county.

“Another reason to stay vigilant is the fact that we continue to see increasing cases of the B117 variant in the county,” said Arkoosh, referring to the more contagious coronavirus variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and was identified in the county in January. “To date, we have 35 confirmed cases.

“This variant is 50% more contagious and can cause more serious disease. We continue to see it spreading in our community,” added Arkoosh, who was joined at the news briefing by fellow Commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr.

On Wednesday, county health officials reported 145 new daily positive cases of the virus, bringing the county’s total number of positive cases to 49,763 since March 7, 2020, when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county.

County officials also reported two new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the county’s death toll to 1,257 since the pandemic began a year ago. Those who have died from the virus ranged in age from 25 to 106.

According to the county’s contact tracing data, exposures are occurring among members of households, at work and at private gatherings.

“As we approach Passover and Easter I just want to remind everyone to please be as safe as possible. We know some families are making plans to gather. We have seen holiday spikes after all of the recent holidays,” said Arkoosh, urging residents to continue to follow recommendations for social distancing and the wearing of face coverings. “Celebrate separately if at all possible and if you are traveling over the spring break time period please be very, very careful.”

Officials explained that while the vaccination rollout is progressing, the county still has only about one-third of the eligible population partially or fully vaccinated.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported on Wednesday that 84,449 county residents had received full doses of vaccine. Another 134,282 residents had received a first dose of the vaccine.

The total 218,731 people who are partially or fully vaccinated, represents about 26.32% of the county’s total population and about 32.49% of those who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine.

“So, we have a ways to go before we are approaching anything close to herd immunity which would offer protection to all of us in the community,” Arkoosh said.

Health experts estimate about 75-to-80-percent of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity.

Appointments are required to receive the vaccine. All those eligible for the vaccine in Phase 1A can pre-register to receive the vaccine through the county Office of Public Health. The state remains in Phase 1A, which includes those 65 and older, health care workers and anyone age 16 to 64 with specific medical conditions. The pre-registration link can be found at www.montcopa.org/COVID-19 under the green vaccination information button.

Residents who don’t have internet access can call the county’s COVID-19 hotline at (833) 875-3967 to connect with a volunteer who can assist them in pre-registering for a vaccine.

Officials said as of Wednesday there were 89,325 people remaining on the Phase 1A pre-registration list.

“At this time, and depending upon when you registered, it may be up to 10 weeks before you hear back from us about scheduling an appointment, with our current rate of supply,” Arkoosh explained.

If the county’s vaccine supply increases, officials will be able to move through the pre-registration list more quickly.

The county Office of Public Health previously opened vaccination clinics at Norristown High School and another hosted by the Montgomery County Community College campus in Whitpain.

A third vaccination clinic opened last Friday at the Parkside Shopping Center, in the former Petco location, in Willow Grove.

“We have significantly more capacity to administer vaccine than we have doses to give. We’re ready to go and we’re still waiting for more vaccine. We certainly hope that this will improve in the future,” Arkoosh said. “We just have to believe that at some point we are going to get more vaccine.”

Officials have said the Willow Grove facility, at full capacity, could accommodate about 10,000 shots per day if the county’s supply of vaccine increases.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s become the ‘Hunger Games’ for this vaccination process. We are very frustrated by it. Hopefully, as vaccine production ramps up, we are ready and willing and able to vaccinate our citizens,” Lawrence said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health, according to Arkoosh, has confirmed that over the next four weeks the county will continue to receive at least 5,850 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each week for first dose clinics.

“We continue to communicate to the Pennsylvania Department of Health that we have the capacity to administer higher quantities of vaccine. We are hopeful that our vaccine supply will continue to grow in the coming weeks as we still have a number of people on our 1A list,” Arkoosh explained.

“We have more than abundant capacity to give vaccines and we are just waiting for those doses. As soon as we get it, we will make it available. It is the one piece of this that is out of our control,” Arkoosh added.