Bucks Co. Reports Most New Coronavirus Cases Ever

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County health officials reported more new coronavirus cases last week than at any time since the pandemic began.

The Bucks County Department of Health reported 826 new cases of COVID-19 from Sunday, Nov. 1 through Saturday, Nov. 7. That's an average of about 118 new cases per day — a 79 percent increase over the previous week and 3.5 times higher than a month earlier.

The county also set a new single-day record for cases on Friday, when 161 were reported. The previous record was 144, set on April 15.

Deaths and hospitalizations have not risen at the same rate. There were three deaths from COVID-19 reported in Bucks County last week — two men, ages 54 and 71, and a 91-year-old woman.

All three had histories of underlying health conditions and one lived in a long-term care facility. By comparison, there were more than 90 deaths in both of the two weeks in the spring when Bucks County reported its highest number of new COVID cases.

By Saturday, 16 Bucks County residents were hospitalized with the coronavirus, with one in critical condition and on a ventilator. That number, too, is much lower than during the peaks in the spring.

The numbers in Bucks County mirror those throughout Pennsylvania, as the commonwealth finds itself in the heart of what experts call a fall surge of the virus. More than 4,000 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Pennsylvania on Saturday, shattering the previous record.

Despite the increases, state health officials said this week that there are currently no plans for blanket school closures across Pennsylvania. Those decisions will continue to be made on a local level, Health Secretary Rachel Levine said.

Also Saturday, 40 new deaths from COVID-19 were reported, bringing the state's total to 9,015.

Bucks County commissioners planned a news conference Tuesday morning to address the rise in cases.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health, said the fall spike in Bucks County has been made worse by what he called ill-advised social gatherings, including Halloween parties, sports gatherings and weddings.

He urged the public to avoid what he called "COVID fatigue" and said he fears increased community spread will reach healthcare workers, including those at nursing homes and other facilities, again threatening the county's most vulnerable populations.

Health officials' longstanding advice to wear masks and practice social distancing still apply, Damsker said.

"People are getting it from unmasked exposures," he said.

Damsker reported that 261 Bucks County students and 59 school staff members have been infected this semester. But, he said, those infections have not been happening at schools, where they are required to wear masks and distance, but outside the classroom.

Health officials said the surge in cases has overwhelmed the county's ability to conduct contact tracing. Of last week's 826 cases, 337 of the patients were unable to be reached immediately for interviews.

"At these very high case counts, contract tracing starts becoming difficult and less effective, so we depend more and more on education and people taking personal responsibility for keeping spread in check," Damsker said. "We will continue focusing on schools and long-term care facilities as our investigative priorities."

Of the remaining 489 cases, 262 were spread within households or from gatherings with family and friends, 104 were attributed to community spread, 44 were infected at workplaces, 41 are residents or workers at long-term care facilities, 20 resulted from out-of-state travel and 18 are healthcare workers.

Bucks County now has had 10,545 people test positive for COVID-19, with 539 deaths.

Of the deaths, 417 were long-term care residents. Another 8,953 people have been confirmed to have recovered from the virus. The median age of those who have been infected in Bucks County is 48, while the median age of death is 84.