MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — In the last few days the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Montgomery County has increased dramatically. Here is a breakdown of the numbers provided by the Montgomery County Hospital District.
- Friday July 10: 131 new cases
- Monday July 13: 105 new cases
- Tuesday July 14: 359 new cases
- Wednesday July 15: 853 new cases
- Thursday July 16: 177 new cases
Why the big increase on Tuesday and Wednesday?
"The process that we had been using was we would get the report that someone had COVID then we would contact the person, then we would record it as a case," Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said.
Keough says the problem is getting a hold of people.
"The fact of the matter with the increase in the amount of cases getting a hold of people has been very tough. So we created a backlog," said Judge Keough.
Keough says he just found out about the problem on Tuesday. He decided the county should put out all of the numbers, regardless if they made contact.
Reporter Anayeli, "If they were having this problem why didn’t they tell you sooner?"
"That is a good question. We talked about that. I think it’s a function of people trying to get caught up trying to do what they are supposed to do. This just doesn’t justify," he said.
The county judge says the Montgomery County will now count every positive test result they get from any lab, regardless if they made contact with the person. Because of this, their positivity rate has increased from 7.5% to 10.19%.
The judge says he has allocated additional resources to help deal with the increase in cases and backlog.
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