Bucks Has 'Moderate' Risk Of Community Coronavirus Transmission

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Pennsylvania Department of Health has begun providing details on the likelihood of getting coronavirus through community transmission by county. Those details are being used to inform how the Department of Education is advising schools to handle instruction for the 2020-2021 school year.

According to the health department, the risk of community transmission of the coronavirus in Bucks County is "moderate" as of Aug. 7. That's the same category in which Bucks County was placed for the week ending July 31.

The "moderate" designation means the county has had anywhere from 10 to less than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over seven days or a 5-10 percent positivity rate over seven days. Counties are rated either low, moderate or substantial transmission risks.

The table, by the state Department of Education, recommends a fully remote education model in "substantial" counties, either fully remote school or a blend of remote and in-person learning in "moderate" counties and either a fully in-person model or some blended learning in counties with a "low" transmission risk.

"While a county's corresponding threshold may change week by week, DOH and PDE recommend that schools consider changing instructional models only after observing two consecutive weeks of the same designation," the health and education departments said in a joint statement. "For example, a school offering a blended/hybrid model in a county identified as 'moderate' might consider transitioning to a fully in-person model if the county moves to 'low' for two consecutive weeks."

All other counties in the Philadelphia area — Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Philadelphia — are listed as having moderate risk of community transmission.

As of Tuesday, Union County, in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area, was the only county in Pennsylvania listed as having substantial community transmission risk.

Since the pandemic began, Bucks County has had 6,801 residents test positive for COVID-19 and 515 deaths have been attributed to the virus. A total of 5,715 people have been confirmed to have recovered.

Over a four-day span from Friday through Monday, Bucks County's number of newly reported coronavirus cases hit its lowest level since before the July 4 holiday. Over the four-day period, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Bucks County averaged 23 cases per day.

Patch's Max Bennett contributed to this report.