Bucks Co. 'Nowhere Near' Re-Opening Standard: Officials

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County's deadliest week from the coronavirus came to a close on Saturday, with six more deaths bringing the county's total for the week to 61.

Meanwhile, county health officials said the rate at which the virus continues to be detected in the county "does not bode well" for Bucks's chances of re-opening soon under the standards set out by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

Almost all of the people who died with the virus during the week were elderly residents of long-term care facilities, according to county health officials.

The deaths announced Saturday included three men and three women, ranging in age from 78 to 91. The average age of those who have died with COVID-19 in Bucks County is 84, officials said.

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Last week's 61 deaths was 16 more than the previous week's 45, which had been the county's highest coronavirus death toll.

Bucks County health officials announced 72 new positive cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, pushing the county's total to 2,541.

In a news release, county officials said those numbers "do not bode well for Bucks County being able to re-open its economy any time soon" based on metrics laid out by Gov. Tom Wolf.

Wolf’s plan, which would allow regions to re-open certain businesses and child care once they reach certain markers, requires an infection rate of no more than 50 per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. Until today, it was unclear whether Wolf meant that as a daily total or a cumulative two-week total to be divided by 14 days.

The governor’s office Saturday clarified that it was the latter. Based on Bucks County’s population, the county must have no more than about 320 positive cases over a 14-day period, or an average of about 23 per day.

The county has been nowhere near that standard lately, with positive cases actually increasing as more healthcare workers and residents and staff at long-term care facilities get tested.

North Central and Northwest Pennsylvania, where population density is low and confirmed cases have been low as well, are considered the most likely to have their restrictions eased beginning May 8. Southeast Pennsylvania has been the state's hardest-hit region.

A total of 208 Bucks County coronavirus patients were hospitalized on Saturday, 24 of them in critical condition and on ventilators. Five hundred seventy-one patients have been confirmed to have recovered, and have been released from isolation.

Statistics, charts and other coronavirus-related information can be found on the county's coronavirus data portal.

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