This story was updated as of July 30 @ 5:40 p.m..

Prince George’s County has seen a slight increase in COVID-19 cases during the past month, paired with questions from officials about the county’s ability to safely hold elections in November.

The week before July 4, the county reported 581 positive cases. Between July 12 and July 18, the number of positive cases increased to 909, according to county health data.

County Health Director Ernest Carter said while the county has increased testing over the past two months, it’s also seen an increase in people under the age of 50 contracting the virus. According to county data, residents under the age of 50 make up slightly more than 65% of the total confirmed cases, while people over 50 make up 90% of the total virus-related deaths.

“The increase we’re seeing in new cases right now shows a stubborn and persistent increase in community spread,” Carter said at a press conference Thursday morning.

He added that county residents need to keep up social distancing and other protective actions and that it’s too early to suggest a rollback on any reopening measures.

“This is evident that physical distancing and other protective measures, both in the county and nationwide, have not been as robust as we should have had them,” Carter said.

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said she’s ordering residents to avoid gatherings indoors and outdoors of more than 100 people. She said anyone in violation of this order could be charged with a misdemeanor and face one year in prison and a $5000 fine.

“This is no laughing matter,” Alsobrooks said Thursday. “We are unfortunately seeing–and there’s one in every crowd–some who are trying to circumvent the order by holding large house parties with hundreds of people in attendance and these parties are unsafe…In fact, they’re almost certain to lead to an additional spread of COVID-19.”

According to the state health department’s contact tracing data, 44 percent of the infected people interviewed by the department had attended a large family gathering.

Alsobrooks said she’s also ordering the department of health to close or fine any restaurants and businesses in violation of social distancing and safety protocols.

Voting in a pandemic

With the pandemic still a top priority for the county, Alsobrooks is concerned with how it will run the November presidential election.

She wrote a letter to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan this week asking him to allow the county board of elections to limit in-person voting sites to 15 people, implement drop-off ballot boxes at each one, and expand early voting.

Alsobrooks said the county would need 3,500 poll workers during a traditional election.

“And that’s just something we’re not going to be able to do in the middle of a pandemic. Many of the venues that normally serve as polling places, such as senior centers, churches, and private halls, have withdrawn,” Alsobrooks said.

Hogan has said the state would have a mostly in-person election with an option for mail-in ballot applications and ballot drop-off boxes. Alsobrooks reiterated her calls with other county executives and Democratic state lawmakers Thursday asking for Hogan to reverse his decision and hold a mostly mail-in ballot election.

This story was updated to clarify that Maryland’s Health Department data showed that 44% of the people they interviewed during contact tracing said they had attended a family gathering.