MOCO Reaches High Transmission Of COVID-19 As Case Counts Rise

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The CDC has now classified Montgomery County as an area of high transmission, as case counts have risen. There were 105.26 cases per 100,000 people in the past week.

Hospitalizations have remained low, with 5.4 percent of beds in use in the county occupied by COVID-19 patients.

The CDC classifies high transmission as 100 or more cases per 100,000 people in a one-week period. Montgomery County has been in the substantial transmission category since early August, which prompted the return of the universal indoor mask mandate on Aug. 7.

Here are the case counts for the past week:

• Thursday, Aug. 26 - 152
• Friday, Aug. 27 - 157
• Saturday, Aug. 28 - 190
• Sunday, Aug. 29 - 192
• Monday, Aug. 30 - 115
• Tuesday, Aug. 31 - 159
• Wednesday, Sept. 1 - 141

There was a total of 1,106 new cases reported in the past week — with Montgomery County's population of roughly 1.051 million, that brings the case count to the 105.26 per 100,000 people.

Montgomery County is at the lower end of the high transmission category, but that isn't enough, County Executive Marc Elrich told reporters on Wednesday.

“There’s little consolation in that," he said. "There’s still a lot of people getting sick.”

He discussed the possibility of a vaccine passport that would be required to go into certain indoor areas, including businesses. The idea has not been formally proposed to the County Council, but Elrich said it's the best way to keep people safe while avoiding a return to capacity restrictions in businesses. He acknowledged people's fears that imposing more restrictions would hurt local restaurants and businesses, but said this could help that.

The county executive said that he knows of people are are not going to restaurants and shops because they don't want to be near people who are unvaccinated or untested. With a vaccine passport, that problem could be avoided, said Elrich.

“We actually could become the destination to go to," said Elrich.

So far 65.6 percent of Montgomery County residents are fully vaccinated, a share higher than the 52.7 percent of residents nationwide. The county executive called on the people who are unvaccinated in the county to get the shot to prevent needless severe illness and death.

“A lot of people are getting sick who don’t need to be sick," Elrich said. "And some people are going to die who don’t need to die.”