With more than 40 confirmed coronavirus cases in Montgomery County and 500 people in quarantine, county officials are switching to a “community-spread” model for dealing with the virus, writes Jim Melwert for the KYW Newsradio.

Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said that based on the Pennsylvania Department of Health advice, officials will be stopping contact-tracing. This is where a patient is asked to try and recall exactly whom they have been in contact and every place they have been.

With so many cases in the county, “we are assuming there is community spread, meaning you might get it just from normal activity,” said Arkoosh.

She went on to reassure residents that something like this is to be expected from a contagious virus. Still, this means that it is up to individuals with symptoms or who have tested positive to tell all the people they have been in contact to take precautions.

Arkoosh added that those who self-isolate need to do that for a minimum of seven days after the symptoms start. They also need to have been without fever for at least 72 hours without using fever-reducing medicine.

Read more about the new model at the KYW Newsradio by clicking here.