MOCO Reaches 'Substantial Transmission' Of COVID-19 Cases

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — There have been 605 cases of COVID-19 reported in Montgomery County in the past week, placing it in the "substantial transmission category," as defined by the CDC. The designation was made on Thursday, when 115 cases were reported on the county's COVID-19 dashboard.

Substantial transmission is 50 to 99 cases per week per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. Montgomery County has a population of 1.05 million, meaning about 75 cases per day for a seven-day period or 525 cases in a week qualifies as substantial transmission.

The county's 605 cases this week translate to 57.6 cases per 100,000 county residents, placing it in the substantial transmission category, according to the county's data.

The reported new case counts this week have been:

• Friday, July 30 - 97
• Saturday, July 31 - 98
• Sunday, Aug. 1 - 90
• Monday, Aug. 2 - 66
• Tuesday, Aug. 3 - 41
• Wednesday, Aug. 4 - 98
• Thursday, Aug. 5 -115

The County Council voted to reinstate the mask mandate indoors in the county on Thursday. It had initially planned the meeting as a precautionary meetings if the county reached substantial transmission, but with the uptick in case counts the designation came sooner than expected. County Executive Marc Elrich had called for the vote to reinstate the mandate earlier in the week.

"We have seen the daily number of new cases go up for more than two weeks and the majority of the new cases are the Delta variant, which is highly contagious," said Elrich in a statement where he proposed a mask mandate if substantial transmission was reached. "While we have a high rate of vaccination in the community, health officials have determined that this variant is very easy to spread and we want to be sure that those in the community who aren't eligible to be vaccinated, such as children under the age of 12, are protected. No one wants to go back to wearing masks but in the absence of a 100 percent vaccination rate in the community, masking is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the health of our community."

In Montgomery County, 63.7 percent of people are fully vaccinated — about half of the people in the United States are fully vaccinated. Only 2.5 percent of hospital beds that are in use in Montgomery County are occupied by people with COVID-19.