Coronavirus Deaths, Hospitalizations Stay Low In Bucks Co.

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus remained low in Bucks County over the past few days, according to health officials.

Meanwhile, the number of new cases saw a very slight increase, remaining just above the baseline number the county has seen in recent weeks.

Bucks averaged 33 new cases per day over the past three days, with 24 on Tuesday, 36 on Wednesday and 39 on Thursday, according to the Bucks County Department of Health. The most common source of the spread was people passing the virus within the same household.

One death in Bucks County was reported over the past three days — a 64-year-old man with underlying health conditions. Eight Bucks County residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday, two of them in critical condition and on ventilators.

"Despite having new cases every day of the week, single-digit hospitalizations should make everyone in Bucks feel much better," said health department Director Dr. David Damsker. "We need to start putting this into the proper perspective – when we’re being smart and taking the right precautions the chances of getting very ill from this virus have dropped."

Household contacts accounted for 42 of the new cases reported in the past three days. Another 17 were attributed to community spread, nine were people infected out of state, six were healthcare workers, four were people infected at other workplaces, one was a long-term care resident and 20 were unable to complete full interviews immediately.

Five cases were delayed reports of cases no longer considered infectious.

Since the pandemic began, Bucks County has had 7,911 residents test positive for COVID-19. A total of 525 deaths have been attributed to the virus, including 413 long-term care residents. Another 7,014 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.

An interactive Bucks County map showing numbers of active infections by municipality can be found here.