Montco Has 'Moderate' Risk Of Community Coronavirus Transmission

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Montgomery County has been labeled as a "moderate" risk for community transmission of coronavirus, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The state Department of Education is using the metric to inform how they advise schools to handle instruction and reopening for the 2020-21 school year.

Montgomery County's "moderate" classification is the same as the rest of southeastern Pennsylvania, where very county has received that designation.

Moderate indicates that the county has anywhere from 10 to less than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over seven days or a 5 to 10 percent positivity rate over seven days. To achieve "low" risk, counties must have fewer than 10 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days and less than 5 percent positivity rate over seven days.

Counties such as Montgomery that have a moderate risk of community transmission are recommended to have schools operate with blended or fully remote learning models. Low risk counties are recommended to operate on blended or fully in-person models, while substantial risk counties should have fully virtual learning models.

"While a county's corresponding threshold may change week by week, DOH and PDE recommend that schools consider changing instructional models only after observing two consecutive weeks of the same designation," the departments said in a joint statement. "For example, a school offering a blended/hybrid model in a county identified as 'moderate' might consider transitioning to a fully in-person model if the county moves to 'low' for two consecutive weeks."

Montgomery County's percent positivity rate has plummeted to 2.5 percent over the past week, the lowest mark in the greater Philadelphia area. The county's average number of cases over the past week has also dropped down to 30.3, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

With reporting from Patch correspondent Max Bennett