New Bucks COVID Cases Spike After Slow Weekend

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — After a couple of days on which new coronavirus cases in Bucks County nearly hit Pennsylvania's targets for the next phase of reopening, that number spiked Monday to nearly four times the target.

Still, Bucks County health officials maintained that Monday's big number was a one-time thing and that the county's trend is headed in the right direction.

Get the latest updates on coronavirus in Bucks County by signing up for Patch news alerts.

On Monday, 81 new cases of the virus were reported in Bucks County, along with 13 new coronavirus-related deaths.

That came after just 29 new cases and one death were reported on Saturday and 24 new cases and two deaths were reported Sunday.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health, said Monday spike was "partially due to results of mass testing that was done by at least one nursing home." The number also included eight Bucks County residents who tested positive in New Jersey, mostly in early to mid-April, Damsker said.

"The overall rolling trend appears to be good," he said. "One day of a spike doesn’t affect the 14-day trend, which is clearly going down."

The color-coded reopening plan set forth by Gov. Tom Wolf requires that an area have fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the course of 14 days. In Bucks County, that would require an average of about 22 new cases per day.

Sunday's totals in Bucks County ended a week in which there were 438 new cases and 57 deaths. That's an average of about 63 new cases and eight deaths per day.

Of the 81 cases reported on Monday, 33 are residents of long-term health facilities and one is a staff member. Twelve were from household contacts, 12 were from community spread, four were among healthcare workers, two happened in other workplaces and one was from exposure out of state, officials said.

The death reported Saturday was of a 47-year-old woman who had lived at a long-term care facility. The two on Sunday were a 91-year-old man and an 89-year-old woman, both of whom lived at care facilities and had underlying health conditions.

The 13 deaths reported Monday were among people ranging from their 60s to age 101.

A total of 130 patients remained hospitalized in Bucks County on Monday, 18 of them in critical condition and on ventilators, while 1,246 of those who have been infected in Bucks are confirmed to have recovered.

Monday's news came as frustrations with the state's stay-at-home and business shutdown orders continued to mount in some quarters. Some business owners in Bucks County were threatening to reopen in spite of the orders.

Meanwhile, Bucks officials were working to help business owners holding the line. On Monday, county commissioners announced a $6 million Bucks Back To Work Small Business Grant created to help local businesses struggling during the shutdown.

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

>>>Full coverage of coronavirus in Pennsylvania