With the increase in COVID-19 cases detected locally and around the country, county officials are evaluating whether there’s a need to roll back recent reopening provisions.
Dr. Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, has updated the indicators used to guide local decision-making regarding the restrictions intended to curb the spread of the virus.
The primary indicators that the county will be analyzing include:
- Daily case rate (seven-day average per 100,000 people)
- Test positivity rate or percentage (during the last 14 days), and
- Rate of transmission.
Other indicators that will be used in the evaluations include:
- Percentage of change in new cases per 100,000 people (during the last seven days compared with the previous seven days)
- Percentage of hospital inpatient beds that are occupied
- Percentage of intensive care unit beds occupied, and
- Percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
The full list, which is updated daily, is posted on the county’s website.
“We have been monitoring the uptick in cases to determine whether it was an anomaly, but the increase in cases has been consistent over the last few weeks,” said Dr. Gayles in a press release.
These criteria will be used to determine whether to roll back the guidance for activities such as the permitted size of social gatherings, limits on the indoor capacity of restaurants, houses of worships, retail outlets and other openings, as well as activities that are considered to have a high risk of the virus’ transmissions.
“I don’t want to see us have to rollback any of the activities that we have reopened over the last three or four months,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in the announcement. “Our residents and businesses have worked hard to protect themselves, families, employees and customers. If we all do our part, I believe we can keep the risk of greater transmission low.”
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