Montgomery County's active COVID-19 case count hovers just above 7K; 5 new deaths reported since Jan. 22

Montgomery County's active COVID-19 case count was just above 7,000 as of Jan. 27, and five new deaths have been reported since last week.

While the number of active cases increased at the beginning of the week, the count briefly dipped below 7,000 and was back up to 7,029 total active cases as of Jan. 27—below the local record of 10,774 active cases reported Jan. 14. A total of 13,234 cases are listed as inactive, which means the Montgomery County Public Health District was unable to contact those individuals within 30 days of an initial case report.

More than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases were added this week, bringing the county's cumulative COVID-19 case count to 38,557. Several hundred new clinical recoveries were reported Jan. 25-27, and 18,068 individuals—46.86% of all cases—have now recovered.

Over the past three days, five deaths related to COVID-19 were also reported in Montgomery County, including male New Caney and Conroe residents in their 60s, 70s and 90s. A total of 207 county resident fatalities related to the disease have now been reported.

COVID-19 hospitalizations among residents decreased from 85 on Jan. 25 to 79 on Jan. 27.

Overall general bed usage for COVID-19 patients in county hospitals, including nonresidents, fell this week. The percentage of beds occupied by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients remained at 20.6% as of Jan. 26, or 202 out of 982 beds in use, as compared to Jan. 22, when 208 out of 1,012 general beds in use countywide were occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to data from the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council.

ICU bed usage among confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in county facilities fell this week from 38% of all local ICU beds in use as of Jan. 22 to 35.2% as of Jan. 26. Fifty-eight COVID-19 patients in ICU beds out of 165 total ICU beds in use were reported Jan. 26.