PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Montgomery County health officials struck a more optimistic tone Wednesday as they discussed record-high COVID-19 case counts.
County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh said we are in a much different place now than we were one year ago.
“We have a number of things in place now that are tools to prevent people from getting sick," said Dr. Arkoosh.
"Number one being vaccines, number two being masks, and also the ability to treat this virus in a much more effective way.”
Dr. Arkoosh said Montgomery County is seeing a similar trend as other parts of the world.
“We have the highest number of cases that we have seen today during this pandemic," she said.
"Yet, thankfully, at least at this point, hospitalizations are not keeping pace with that.”
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She said the most important metric to watch isn’t the total number, but instead the ability of hospitals to keep functioning.
“The issue that is most critical would be if our hospitals got to the point where they were not able to admit any more patients, or had to staff to care for more patients," Dr. Arkoosh said.
"That is the metric that we are tracking most closely at this point."
She said hospitals are busy and staffing remains an issue, but none of them has reached out to the county to ask for staffing help.
Dr. Arkoosh said county officials see no reason at the moment for additional restrictions or mandates.
"Right now today, there is nothing that is indicating that we need to take any further steps than the ones that are currently in place," she said, "which is to strongly urge vaccination and boosters, strongly encourage indoor masking, and limit gatherings to a small number of fully vaccinated individuals."