It is possible you may know someone who has contracted Covid-19 recently. The County, the state of Maryland, and the country are seeing an increase in cases.
Health leaders say the most recent data shows a change over the past two weeks. Acting Deputy Chief of Public Health Services, Sean O’Donnell, said the County is keeping track of several metrics. On July 25, 8.5% of PCR tests came back positive. As of August 7, the figure had increased to 10%.
Hospitalizations also are up by about 50% across the state over the past two weeks. Up to 80 people were hospitalized as of July 27. That number is currently 125. The number of deaths also is up in the County. Five people died from the virus between June 9 and July 6. However, 13 people died between July 7 and August 3.
The County also has noticed more Covid-19 in the community through its Wastewater Surveillance program.
New Variant Helping To Spread Cases
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week a new variant is helping fuel the rise in cases. EG.5 is related to both the Omicron variant and the XBB subvariant.
While the recent increase in cases raises some concern, Covid-19 is still at a low level in the County.
“We’ve had spikes in late spring and summer before, this is not a significant spike,” O’Donnell said.
County Executive Marc Elrich addressed the increase in cases during his weekly news conference on Wednesday.
“We cannot ignore these increases, which is why we continue to monitor and talk about these rates. So we are urging all the residents to be mindful that COVID-19 is still with this, and as we conclude our summer vacations and prepare to go back to school, everybody needs to be aware of the situation,” Elrich said.
Right now, there are no plans to require students to have a Covid-19 test before they return to school. O’Donnell said if a student tests positive and is symptomatic, he or she should stay home for five days, and if they are feeling better, they can return to school as long as they wear a mask.
Protect Those Most At Risk
O’Donnell said the community still needs to protect the elderly and people who are immunocompromised. They remain at greater risk of suffering complications if they contract Covid-19.
He said Covid-19 is still more deadly than the flu. Influenza killed about 65 people during this past flu season in Maryland while Covid-19 killed between 30 and 50 people a month just in Montgomery County.
New Booster Coming This Fall
Both Elrich and O’Donnell are urging residents to get the next Covid-19 booster when it becomes available.
O’Donnell said the Food and Drug Administration is currently testing a monovalent booster which will target the XBB subvariant. The previous boosters were bivalent. They targeted the original Covid-19 strain and the Omicron variant. Besides the FDA, the CDC also must sign off on the new shots.
Once the government approves the new booster, it will become available to the public. That is expected to happen in late September or early October. Unlike previous vaccines, the federal government will not dispense this booster. Instead, the drug makers, Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax will distribute the Covid-19 shots.
