18 Montgomery County Residents Die From Coronavirus

NORRISTOWN, PA — Eighteen more Montgomery County residents died from coronavirus, officials announced on Tuesday, bringing the county's total number of fatalities to 109. However, officials did strike a hopeful note, stating the social distancing measures and restrictions have been working, and that all hospitals in the county still have beds and life-saving ventilators available.

The deaths on Tuesday were all in senior citizens, aged 69 to 97. Nine of them were hospitalized, and one of them died at home.

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Of the county's 109 deaths, 42 were Caucasians, 15 were African-Americans, eight were Asians, two were Asian-Indians, one was Asian-Korean, and 41 were of unknown background.

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Many of these cases have come from individuals in some of the county's 75 long term care facilities. Those facilities have seen 61 deaths, which is 67 percent of the county's fatalities.

However, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh was optimistic that social distancing measures were working. The rate of tests that came back positive in the final days of the community testing site at Temple University-Ambler dipped down to 16 percent. All hospitals still have regular and ICU beds available, as well as ventilators. And the county's new surge unit, the mobile hospital opened up outside Suburban Hospital in East Norriton, has not yet been needed.

Still, the time when things will begin to open up is not in the immediate future.

"I so understand that people want to get back to work, get back to their families and friends, but we are not there yet," Arkoosh said. "Your personal sacrifice has ensured that our hospitals still have beds, that our first responders can still respond," she added.

Arkoosh said the county will likely wait until the number of new cases drops to zero, and testing is widely available, and then things would begin to open up in a "data-driven, evidence-based way."

All told, 99 new cases of the virus were announced Friday, bringing the county' s total to 2,123.

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