MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced Saturday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement, Elrich, who has been fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot, said his symptoms were mild and he was just feeling tired.
"I will be isolating but will continue to work from home," Elrich said in a statement. "The dangers of the Omicron variant are real, and I encourage everybody to take necessary steps to stay safe. Our community's high vaccination rate is critical to ensuring our ability to make it through this. Please remain vigilant, wear a mask, and get vaccinated and boosted!"
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has marked Montgomery County as an area of high community transmission. The CDC makes that determination by two factors: new cases per 100,000 persons and percentage of positive tests in the past seven days.
The case rate is 1,296 per 100,000 people, the data revealed, well over the threshold of 100 to deem community transmission as high. By comparison, six months ago in July, transmission rates were averaging around 30 new cases per 100,000 people.
The positive test rate for the past week was nearly 15 percent, well over the threshold of 10 percent to be categorized as high.
New hospital admissions are up 94 percent over last week, with 202 new hospital admissions in the county for COVID-19, according the CDC's data.
Health officials continue to encourage the public to get vaccinated and boosted. To find a location near you, visit the state's vaccine locator webpage at https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/vaccine.