7 In Bucks Nursing Homes Die Of Coronavirus Wednesday

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Seven out of the eight people who died of the new coronavirus in Bucks County on Wednesday were residents of longterm care facilities, county officials said.

Meanwhile, after a one-day spike in the number of new cases in Bucks County, that number dropped back to 53 on Wednesday, bringing the county's total to 1,450. New cases had spiked to 128 on Tuesday, after several county nursing home reported test results.

Wednesday's eight deaths brought the county's fatality total from the virus to 60.

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The seven people who died at group homes all had histories of underlying health conditions, county officials said. They were five women, ages 94, 94, 89, 79 and 68, and three men, ages 79, 74 and 66.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department, had been saying in recent days that a large number of the county's new coronavirus cases were being seen in people living in group homes.

"While the overall numbers of new cases each day are starting to go down, we are going to continue to see deaths going up in congregate care facilities," Damsker said Wednesday.

About half of the county’s deaths have occurred among residents of longterm care facilities, he said.

On Tuesday, Bucks County spokesman Larry King said that 34 congregate living facilities in Bucks had at least one patient or staff member with the virus.

Congregate living facilities include nursing homes, long-term care centers, behavioral health facilities and prisons — any facility where people are living in close quarters, he said.

The county is not identifying individual facilities, but acknowledged that Neshaminy Manor and the Bucks County Correctional Facility, which are owned and run by the county, have had positive cases.

The Bucks County Correctional Facility, where one new inmate has tested positive, remains on lockdown to reduce further spread, Damsker said Wednesday. Ten prison inmates and 11 workers have tested positive as of Wednesday.

Statewide, 324 residents of longterm care facilities have died with COVID-19, accounting for roughly half of Pennylvania's 647 deaths as of Wednesday.

A total of 116 Bucks County coronavirus patients are hospitalized, with 24 of them in critical condition and on ventilators. Two hundred sixty-four are confirmed to have recovered.

Statistics, charts and other coronavirus-related information can be found on the county’s coronavirus data portal.

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