Bucks Co. Officials Await Official Word On Green Designation

UPDATE: Southeastern PA Counties Moving To Green Phase On June 26

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — One day before Bucks County hopes to get word it can move to lighter coronavirus restrictions, officials said they were confident they'll get good news from Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday.

"We have every reason to believe it will be June 26," Bucks County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Diane Ellis Marseglia said during an online news conference. That's the likely date Bucks County would be moved to the least restrictive green phase of Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus plan if a change is announced on Friday.

The commissioners said they've not heard official word from the state on when they'll be slated for green. Wolf has been making announcements on Fridays about counties permitted to move to less-restrictive phases of the plan.

State lawmakers say they've been told Bucks is expected to go to green on June 26, barring a spike in cases. That would likely mean Wolf will announce the move this Friday.

Bucks County moved from the stay-at-home red phase of the shutdown plan to the less restrictive yellow phase two weeks ago on June 5. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's website, Bucks County currently is meeting four out of four criteria to move to the next level of the plan.

Marseglia, for one, said she's ready for the change, which would allow more activities at businesses already opened and let a remaining few, like barber shops, spas and gyms, open as well.

RELATED: How Daily Life Changes In The Green Phase

"Thinking about the gym and my hair and the dog getting groomed, all in the same day," she joked.

The county once again reported a small number of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

County health officials reported 17 new cases of the virus, with six of those being delayed reports of people who were diagnosed weeks ago.

Two new deaths related to COVID-19 also were reported in Bucks County — a 102-year-old woman who died in late April and a 90-year-old woman who died last week. Both were residents of long-term care facilities who had underlying health conditions.

Eighty coronavirus patients remain hospitalized in Bucks County on Wednesday, with 15 of them in critical condition and on ventilators.

Last week, the county averaged fewer than 21 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to health officials. And new-case numbers dropped into the single digits over the weekend, with Saturday's eight new cases marking the lowest single-day number since March 21.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, Bucks County has had 5,166 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 496 deaths and 2,510 people having been confirmed to have recovered.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health, said he expects the county's current rate of new cases could be steady for months.

"We have probably 10-15 cases every single day ... we don't think we're going to go much lower than that," he said. "We expect to have that many cases every day going forward (for) months, possibly for longer than that, depending on if there's every a vaccine."

Some small outbreaks of COVID-19 are possible as the county continues to reopen Damsker said. But he said a true second wave of the virus can be avoided if people continue wearing masks in public, social distancing and the like.

"We think we have a lot of things in place and most people are following them," Damsker said. "The vast majority of people are doing the right thing.

"We have to keep pushing the message that green is go, but be careful. We we can't go back to is February, when nobody was doing anything different."