11 New Deaths On Bucks Co.'s Deadliest Coronavirus Day

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Eleven new deaths from the novel coronavirus were reported in Bucks County on Tuesday — the county's highest one-day death report from the virus yet.

After several days of declining coronavirus numbers, the county also saw a big increase in the number of new cases reported on Tuesday, with 128 new positive tests bringing the county's total to 1,399.

A day earlier, just 46 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Bucks County.

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Ten of the deaths reported on Tuesday were of people ranging from age 73 to 95. The eleventh was a 31-year-old man with disabilities who lived a congregate living facility, said county health department director Dr. David Damsker.

While all of the deaths were reported by the county on Tuesday, six of them actually happened on Sunday and Monday, according to Damsker.

"We all connect with the families as they face these losses," said Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, chairwoman of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners.

The older people who have died "represent our parents and grandparents, whom we hold close in our hearts," Marseglia said. "In these losses lie much of the history and wisdom of Bucks County."

In Bucks County, 52 people have now died with COVID-19. That's the third-most of any county in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.

Damsker said much of the spike in new cases was from nursing homes that tested all of their residents for the virus.

"Many of these were the results of mass screenings in long-term care facilities," he said.

Bucks County currently has positive cases in 34 congregate living facilities.

"When all of this is said and done, I don’t think there will be any congregate care facility that won’t have at least one positive case, either among a resident or someone working there," Damsker said.

Now that the nursing homes have reported, Damsker said he expects the county's daily number of new cases to decrease again. But he said he also expects the number of deaths among older Bucks County residents to continue to climb.

"I suspect that, for the immediate short-term, we may have multiple deaths most days of the week," he said. "The average age of the people who have died is around 80, and while it doesn’t lessen the impact on their families, it should help to know that these are not people who have become infected from being out in public. We luckily also have not had a death of anybody who did not have underlying medical conditions."

A total of 103 Bucks County coronavirus patients remained hospitalized on Tuesday, 24 of them in critical condition and on ventilators. Two hundred sixty-four Bucks County patients are confirmed to have recovered.

More Bucks County coronavirus information can be found on the county's data portal.

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