When Will Montgomery County Move To Green? Officials Weigh In

NORRISTOWN, PA — Just a week after moving into the yellow phase, Montgomery County is already approaching readiness for the green phase of easing coronavirus restrictions, officials said on Thursday, estimating that it could happen by early July.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health website, Montgomery County is meeting four out of four metrics on a chart featuring requirements to move the plan's next stage. Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh corrected that chart, stating that county is still falling slightly short in one key metric: the rate at which individuals have tested positive in the county.

While the state shows the county meeting the required metric, which is a positivity rate under 10 percent over the last 14 days, Arkoosh said Montgomery County's rate is still at 13.4 percent.

Other metrics watched include the number of new coronavirus cases and available hospital beds.

"We're getting so close, so if people can just hang in there and keep doing what they're doing," she said Thursday.

Arkoosh also stressed that while the green phase was a welcome step and could be reached in just a few weeks time, it still will not be business as usual.

"But I do just want to remind everybody that green does not mean go back to normal," she said. "Green means a little more flexibility, larger gatherings, some indoor restaurants (opening), ability to eat indoors but at a lower capacity...being able to get your haircut. But it's not going to be totally normal."

Neighboring Delaware and Bucks counties also meet all four metrics, while Philadelphia, Chester, and Lancaster counties also failed to meet the standards in at least one category.

Last week, Montgomery County was part of the last batch of counties in Pennsylvania to move from the plan's most restrictive red phase to the yellow phase, which allows some businesses and other public spaces to reopen with some health restrictions.

The reopening plan set forth by Wolf requires that an area have fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the course of 14 days. In Montgomery County, that requires an average of about 30 new cases per day.

While that number seemed impossible a month ago, Montgomery County is making rapid progress. Overall, the county has seen its daily average of new cases over the past two weeks drop to 64. It was at 83 just on May 30.

A total of 135 individuals are currently hosptialized with coronavirus in the county's vairous hospitals, reflecting a "continued slow decrease over last few weeks," Arkoosh said. Of those patients, 33 require a ventilator. At the county's peak, there were well over 400 patients hospitalized.

The county has seen 7,682 coronavirus cases and 765 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.

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