COUNTIF cells are blank in row, but column header date is not in the future

[surkdidat]

Hi all

I need a COUNTIF formula that will count the number of blank cells in a row, providing the date in that column is not in the future.

COUNT	27 Jan	28 Jan	29 Jan	30 Jan
2	222	dds
0
3	ndfkjhkj	867	jkbk
1			89nd9

 

[etaf]

=COUNTIFS($B$1:$E$1,"<="&TODAY(),B2:E2,"")

Book1
	A	B	C	D	E
1	COUNT	27-Jan	28-Jan	29-Jan	30-Jan
2	0	222	dds	aa	bb
3	3
4	0	ndfkjhkj	867	jkbk
5	2			89nd9	fff
Sheet1

Cell Formulas
Range	Formula
A2:A5	A2	=COUNTIFS($B$1:$E$1,"<="&TODAY(),B2:E2,"")

 

[surkdidat]

Thank you for this.. Just as an addition.. The date columns are merged across the two cells below (so B1 and C1 would have the date of 27 Jan as a merged column), but B2 and C2 would have two different values in. If either or both are blank, I would need a count.. (Apologies, this is an additional issue from the original!)

COUNT	27 Jan	27 Jan	28 Jan	28 Jan	29 Jan	29 Jan
1	1		2	2
0	3	sd	sas	ds
2

 

[etaf]

Sorry, I'm not sure how to do with merged cells - always an issue when merged cells are used