COVID Hospitalizations Down, New Cases Up In Bucks Co.

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A one-day spike in new coronavirus cases in Bucks County marred an otherwise positive report that saw hospitalizations hit their lowest level since March.

Just seven people from Bucks County were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday, with two in critical condition and on ventilators, county health officials said. That's the lowest number of hospitalizations since March 25 — about two weeks after the county confirmed its first coronavirus cases.

Thursday's seven hospitalizations was down from 12 earlier in the week.

"It’s very encouraging that our hospitalization numbers continue to drop. That, to me, is the real factor to watch," said county health department Director Dr. David Damsker. "Case counts will continue to fluctuate up and down for a long time to come, but they start to matter less and less if people aren’t getting seriously ill."

But, even as hospitalizations were falling, 57 new Bucks County coronavirus cases were confirmed on Thursday, pushing the county's three-day average to its highest number in weeks.

Since Tuesday, the county averaged 37 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus per day, with a total of 111 new cases. Just four of those cases were delayed reports.

Damsker said household spread and infections in long-term care facilities drove much of the numbers for the first three days of September. There were 37 cases of spread within households and 22 cases among residents or employees of care facilities.

Eight healthcare workers and seven other employees were infected, officials said.

"We need the long-term care facilities to continue keeping their guard up, as we have had some cases in those locations recently, in both staff and residents," Damsker said. "The illnesses have luckily been mild or asymptomatic thus far, but those are the patients with the highest risk."

Fortunately, community spread remained low in Bucks County, causing just 10 cases over the past three days. Out-of-state contacts accounted for another nine cases and 18 patients were unable to be contacted.

Since the pandemic began, Bucks County has had 7,457 cases of the coronavirus and 519 deaths. The median age of those infected has been 51 and the median age of death has been 84.

An interactive Bucks County map showing numbers of active infections by municipality can be found here.