Bucks COVID Cases Tick Up, Other Signs Positive

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County's number of new coronavirus cases ticked up slightly last week, while hospitalizations and deaths from the virus remained low.

Last week's daily case average was 34, according to the Bucks County Department of Health. That's an increase of three cases per day over the previous week.

One Bucks County resident died as a result of COVID-19 last week — a 64-year-old man with underlying health conditions — bringing the county's total number of coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began to 525.

As of Saturday, nine people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Bucks County, with two of them in critical condition and on ventilators.

Of the 241 cases recorded in Bucks County last week, transmission from one member of a household to another continued as the largest source of new infections, accounting for 41 percent of the cases.

Pure community spread of the virus accounted for just 17 percent.

Fifteen of last week's cases were delayed reports no longer considered to be infectious, the health department said.

Also last week, Bucks County joined 46 other counties in Pennsylvania, including all of southeast Pennsylvania, in having what the state considers a moderate level of transmission of the virus. Two counties, Centre and Indiana, were listed as still having substantial transmission rates and the rest were deemed to have low rates.

The positivity rate across Pennsylvania dropped from 4.2 percent to 3.8 percent, which is considered a good sign overall, officials said.

Through Saturday, Bucks County has had 7,984 residents test positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic. Of those, 7,063 are confirmed to have recovered.

The median age of those who have been infected in Bucks is 50, while the median age of death is 84.