Bucks Co. Reports Lowest 1-Day Coronavirus Count Since March

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County reported its lowest one-day total of new coronavirus cases since March on Thursday.

The Bucks County Department of Health reported 19 new COVID-19 cases. The last time the county had a number that low was on March 26.

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Thursday's total capped a run of days that suggest a significant leveling off of new coronavirus cases in the county. Between Saturday and Tuesday, the county reported just 103 new cases and another 31 were reported on Wednesday.

Those numbers are in line with what's required to reopen under Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus plan and come after Bucks County officials said they're looking forward to moving to the plan's most lenient green phase.

Bucks County, like other counties in southeast Pennsylvania, is expected to move from red to yellow under the plan by June 5.

"We're very hopeful that things will move rapidly," Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie said during an online news conference Thursday . "But all of that presumes that we keep doing all the things we've been doing to get us to yellow. That’s what (made) those numbers drop and we have to keep those numbers moving in that direction so that we can move to green."

Bucks County also reported six new deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the county's total deaths to 451. All six were older than 65 and four lived in long-term care facilities, officials said.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the county health department, said that about 500 residents per day have been getting coronavirus testing, but that the demand has decreased lately.

Of Thursday's new cases, seven were residents of long-term care facilities, three were from community spread, one came from a household contact, one is a jail inmate and one happened in a healthcare setting. Six were unable to be interviewed Thursday.

So far, Bucks County health workers have spoken with 95 percent of the people who have been reported to have tested positive for the virus.

On Thursday, 97 patients remained hospitalized with the coronavirus in Bucks County, with 20 of them in critical condition and on ventilators. A total of 1,532 have been confirmed to have recovered.

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

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