Health & Fitness
15 New COVID Cases As Bucks Goes Yellow
Bucks County officials said they hope to move to the even more lenient green phase of the coronavirus shutdown by late June.
BUCKS COUNTY, PA — On the last day Bucks County remained under the strictest phase of Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus shutdown, officials reported just 15 new cases of the virus.
Technically, 25 cases of COVID-19 were reported for the first time on Thursday. But county health officials say 10 of those cases are so old that the patients have already recovered but were reported to the county for the first time.
Get the latest news updates in Bucks County by signing up for Patch news alerts.
Find out what's happening in Warminsterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
It was the second day in a row that Bucks County's coronavirus total was inflated by "delayed transfer" cases from Philadelphia. That's cases where Bucks county residents were tested in Philadelphia, but not reported to Bucks until weeks later.
Four deaths from the coronavirus also were reported on Thursday, bringing the county's total to 469. Two of them were residents of long-term care facilities and had underlying health conditions.
Find out what's happening in Warminsterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The county's total of confirmed infections during the pandemic now sits at 4,906.
A total of 108 Bucks County patients remained hospitalized Thursday, 19 of whom were in critical condition and on ventilators.
At midnight Thursday, Bucks County moved from the red phase of Wolf's coronavirus plan to the yellow phase. That allows more businesses and other public spaces to open, with safety measures in place.
"We’re very happy about that. We’ve worked hard to get there," Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department, said Thursday.
Damsker urged residents to keep wearing masks and taking other precautions in public, saying the coronavirus is still in the community and numbers need to stay low if Bucks is to move into the plan's more lenient green phase.
"If we can maintain our numbers where they are, or even a slight bump ... we should be able to move to green by the end of June," he said.
Statistics, charts and other coronavirus-related information for Bucks County can be found on the county's coronavirus data portal.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
