According to the Montgomery County COVID-19 live virtual press conference on December 23 on their FaceBook page, there were several crucial points from Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH, and Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. in the briefing for residents of Montgomery County, focusing on positive cases and hospital updates.

As of Tuesday, December 23^rd, there were 361 new positive cases of COVID-19, with 14 cases from long-term care facilities, and none were the result of antibody testing. The age in range of new cases was from 1 year old to a 98-year-old person.

As of December 18, the positivity rate was 10.93%, with a decrease of 0.17 percentage points since their last report.

There were 5 new deaths reported since Tuesday, December 22, bringing the total number of Montgomery County residents confirmed positive to have died from COVID-19 to 973, of that 511 are females and 462 are males.

In Montgomery County hospitals, there are roughly 464 individuals being treated for COVID-19, with a decrease of 73 since last week. Approximately 11% of them are requiring the use of a ventilator.

The next virtual briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 3 p.m. Stay up to date with the Montgomery County, PA Facebook page.

The live December 23, 2020 3:00pm virtual update can be seen here.