Bucks County Reports Its Highest COVID-19 Case Average Ever On New Year's Day

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — As COVID-19 cases surged around the country before and after the Christmas holidays, Bucks County saw its positive cases increase by almost 60 percent locally.

On New Year's Day, the county's seven-day case average was 826.7 — the highest its been for the duration of the pandemic.

Between Dec. 23 and Dec. 30, the Bucks County Department of Health reported 3,026 positive cases. That's an increase of 1,215 from the previous week.

Of those cases, 205 were in children under 11 and 278 were in children between ages 12 and 18. Cases in young kids dropped by 24, but cases in older kids were up by 83, according to the data.

The county reported 20 deaths from COVID-19 last week, with 14 as delayed reports from the prior two weeks.

Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 positivity rate was up too, with an increase of 1.8 percent for a 13.7 percent positivity rate.

On Thursday, 154 people were in the hospital — 23 more than the previous week. Thirteen of those patients, an increase of three from the prior week, were on ventilators.

As of Thursday, 369,125 Bucks County residents were vaccinated, meaning 1,677 residents got their second shot last week.

The surge in COVID-19 cases is having an impact; most recently on the Central Bucks School District, which closed Monday due to a staffing shortage and not enough substitute teachers to meet the demand.

For a full list of locations for vaccine and booster providers, see Bucks County’s Coronavirus Testing/Vaccination Information page. To find the vaccination clinics nearest you, text your zip code to 438829.

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