Montco Officials Explain Drop In Vaccination Numbers

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Officials in Montgomery County provided an explanation as the percentage of vaccinated residents mysteriously decreased on data dashboards last week.

The county saw its percentage of residents with at least one dose of vaccine drop from 74 percent to 65 percent, officials said. They said it was due to efforts to streamline numbers from the Department of Health.

"Last week, as part of a data cleaning effort, PA DoH was able to more accurately link first and second doses to individual residents while also identifying and removing duplicate data from its dashboard," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh shared. "As a result, many counties saw their vaccination numbers change and Montco was no exception."

Arkoosh noted that despite the shift, the county's overall number of vaccinated residents increased by 50,000 people. So essentially, there is no need for concern: the vaccination rate remains high, and climbing.

Additionally, COVID case numbers remain low in the county. The county's positivity rate increased by a minuscule measure, up to 0.67. That's just a 0.18 increase from last week, meaning that the general trend of a plateau in cases is continuing.

The seven-day average of cases, meanwhile, is at 7.3, and the 14 day average is 6.4.

Arkoosh noted the county's short term goal is to keep these numbers below an average of 10 cases a day.

Officials still continue to urge any unvaccinated residents to get the shot. You can learn more and sign up here.