Rising COVID-19 case numbers have bumped up into the for community transmission, just like in Fairfax County, Virginia.
While hospitalizations throughout the D.C. region remain relatively low, there鈥檚 concern for people who are most vulnerable.
Individuals who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease from COVID-19 should talk to their health care provider about whether they should wear a mask or take other precautions, such as routine testing, .
鈥淎nd, we strongly encourage anybody in those categories to wear masks when they’re in congregate settings indoors with people outside of their household,鈥� Sean O’Donnell, public health emergency manager for Montgomery County Health and Human Services, said.
O’Donnell also advised people at high risk from COVID-19 to talk with health care providers to find out whether they鈥檙e good candidates for treatments, such as oral antivirals or the monoclonal antibodies.
鈥淗ave that conversation before you test positive, so that you already might know what your options are if you get that test and you can expedite that response,鈥� he said.
Over the past week, there鈥檚 been an increase of nearly 20% in the number of people going to county sites for testing. But O鈥橠onnell said there’s plenty of capacity, and there are PCR laboratory tests available to pick up, administer at home and drop off for processing. Rapid at-home antigen tests and N95 masks can be picked up at any county library.
At a briefing Monday, O鈥橠onnell said Montgomery County COVID-19 case rates are currently 216 per 100,000. With factors also including rates of new admissions into hospitals, once the number exceeds 200, the category of .
The COVID-19 community levels calculated for
