Montgomery County officials announced via a press release today that there are 129 new positive cases of Coronavirus since yesterday. That brings the total number of cases to 3,600 across the county. The county also announced 13 additional deaths, which brings the countywide total to 207 since the start of the pandemic.
Ten out of the 13 deaths involved a resident of a long-term care facility. All were between the ages of 76 and 95.
“We continue to report a steady number of individuals testing positive for COVID-19, which reinforces the continued need to stay at home except for essential work and essential errands,” said Dr. Valerie A. Arkoosh, Chair, Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. “I am also saddened to report the deaths of 13 individuals.”
The latest local data is as follows:
- Abington Township is at 281, which is 16 more than yesterday
- There have been 18 deaths in Abington
- Cheltenham Township is at 275, which is 10 more than yesterday
- There have been nine deaths in Cheltenham
- Jenkintown is at 23, which is the same as yesterday
- There have been zero deaths in Jenkintown
We have also developed the below chart to track the number of daily positive cases by date, over the last 14 days. The benchmarks set by Governor Wolf to move from the current phase red to phase yellow requires the reduction of the daily average of new cases over 14 days to be 30. Note that there are other requirements and all of the counties in the southeastern section of Pennsylvania have to have similar success achieving the benchmarks.
We asked two doctors to review our table and they confirmed it to be correct. However, we believe that what the daily positive number includes needs to be clarified. Is it everyone? Or should it exclude those testing positive in long-term care facilities? Arkoosh has also stated publicly that the real number to follow is the number of positive tests by test date. The only numbers the county is releasing reflects the date the results are received. How the number is determined needs to be quickly resolved and made public.
Yesterday, the first day we published the chart, the difference was 89. Today it rose by two to 91.
Date Daily Positive Test Results April 26 129 April 25 93 April 24 171* April 23 119 April 22 106 April 21 69** April 20 184 April 19 116 April 18 201*** April 17 111 April 16 114 April 15 76 April 14 99 April 13 101 14 Day Total 1,689 14 Day Average 121 14 Day Average Goal to Reopen 30 Difference 91
** On April 21st, County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh stated that the number was likely low due to an issue with receiving results back from the county’s testing site. It was never clarified if the number was correct or if any positive results were lumped in on another date.
*** The county’s testing site in Blue Bell reopened on April 16th and could be the reason this date is higher than others.