Bucks Commissioners Ask Gov. Wolf For 'Flexibility' In Reopening

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Bucks County Commissioners have written a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, asking that new coronavirus cases in nursing homes be considered separately in terms of when the county can reopen.

But shortly after they announced the letter during an online town hall meeting, Pennsylvania's top health official said such considerations will be unlikely.

The letter, signed by all three members of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, asks Wolf to "give us a little flexibility," Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo said during an online town hall hosted by the commissioners on Monday.

On Friday, Bucks County Department of Health Director Dr. David Damsker said that about half of all of Bucks County's more than 3,000 cases of the coronavirus have been in long-term care facilities or among healthcare workers.

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During a daily briefing on the coronavirus, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday that separating cases of the virus in long-term care facilities from overall numbers doesn't make sense.

"We have been asked this question before and we are not going to separate nursing home cases from other cases in counties," Levine said. "What we have certainly learned in this global pandemic of COVID-19 is that we are all interconnected. One section of our community, such as a nursing home or personal-care home, impacts the general community and the community impacts that facility. The staff go back and forth. So it really is an example of how we're all connected and it's very important to include those type of facilities."

In recent weeks, Damsker and other county officials have said that community spread of the coronavirus in Bucks County has been limited — even as outbreaks in 61 long-term care facilities have been reported.

"The majority of deaths in Bucks County are coming from our nursing homes," DiGirolamo said. "The governor has got to take that into consideration when making the decision of when to move certain counties from red to yellow."

On Thursday, 102 of Bucks County's 168 new cases of the coronavirus were among residents of long-term care facilities and another 14 were employees of those facilities, according to officials.

During the town hall, commissioners also said they hope Wolf will consider Bucks County separately from Philadelphia when deciding when to reopen.

"The Philadelphia numbers are not affecting this ...," said commission Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia. "What's affecting our numbers are the nursing home incidents, not Philadelphia. We did write to the governor and we asked if those numbers could be separated."

According to Wolf's initial standard, an area would need to reduce its daily cases of the coronavirus to 50 per 100,000 people. In Bucks County, that would mean about 320 cases in a 14-day period.

MORE: Here Are The Metrics That Will Guide PA's Reopening

Even without nursing home numbers, Bucks County isn't there yet, commissioners said Monday. But they say we're getting close.

"I see light at the end of the tunnel. I really do," DiGirolamo said. "We're going to get through this and we're going to get through it together."

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