Bucks Co. Passes 1,000 COVID Deaths

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County hit a grim milestone this week, recording its 1,000th death from the coronavirus.

Late Friday, the county announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Health had reported seven new COVID-19 deaths in Bucks County on Thursday. That pushed the county's total since the pandemic began to 1,001.

After a surge in new cases that began in the fall, January has been a deadly month in Bucks County, with 70 deaths from the virus recorded as of Friday.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's COVID Dashboard on Saturday, there had been 37,508 cases of the coronavirus in Bucks County since the pandemic began. The seven-day average, as of Friday, was 241 cases per day, county officials said.

RELATED: High Demand, Low Supply For COVID Vaccine In Bucks Co.

This week, Bucks County officials were scrambling to try to get vaccines for the thousands of people newly eligible to receive them after the state expanded eligibility under Phase 1A of Pennsylvania's vaccine plan.

On Tuesday, state officials announced the first phase of Pennsylvania's vaccine plan had been expanded to include residents who are 65 or older and those who have high-risk conditions. Before Tuesday, only healthcare workers and residents and employees of nursing homes and other care facilities had been eligible for the vaccine.

The next day, Bucks County officials complained that the state announcement took them by surprise and said that the county had not received anywhere near the amount of vaccine needed to immunize all of the newly eligible people.

As of Saturday, 15,504 people in Bucks County had received the first of two doses required for the vaccine to be effective, while 5,414 had received both doses, according to the health department.

Bucks County has created an online hub for information on the coronavirus vaccine. The hub contains detailed information on who is eligible to be vaccinated under each of the state plan's four phases.

A form there lets residents register for the vaccine. Once registered, residents will be contacted to schedule a vaccination appointment once sufficient supplies arrive, officials said. Those whose status changed on Tuesday will be shifted from the 1B list to the 1A list and do not need to register a second time, officials said.

Click Here To Register For A COVID-19 Vaccination In Bucks County