COVID Cases Spike In Bucks, Reporting Glitch Blamed

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — After a few weeks of steadily declining numbers, new coronavirus cases in Bucks County spiked last week — a change officials blamed on a backlog in data reporting.

A total of 2,168 new COVID-19 cases were reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in Bucks County from Jan. 24-30. That's 438 more cases, a 25-percent increase, over the previous week.

Local health officials said a statewide backlog of test results from urgent care centers was to blame for the jump.

On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said that 1,214 of the 6,036 cases reported statewide that day were from tests collected more than a week earlier. Officials said backlogged data would continue to be reported for the next few days.

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The same day the state announced the case backlog, it reported 660 new coronavirus cases in Bucks County. That's the biggest single-day total since shortly after Thanksgiving.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health, said some of the newly reported cases dated back to late December.

The new case numbers were enough to push Bucks County over 40,000 since the pandemic began, with a total of 40,193 cases at week's end.

The state also reported 27 Bucks County deaths due to COVID-19 last week, for a total of 105 in January and 1,037 since the pandemic began.

Last week's numbers bumped Bucks County's test-positivity rate back above 10 percent — to 10.4 after having dropped to 9.2 the prior week.

In a positive sign, the number of people hospitalized with COVID in Bucks continued to drop. A total of 112 people in Bucks were hospitalized with the virus, down from 136 a week earlier. Of those, 24 were in intensive care and 15 were on ventilators.

Meanwhile, the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Bucks County continued last week.

Bucks County COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Updates

Local leaders say that effort has been slowed down by an inadequate amount of vaccines arriving from the federal government in Bucks County and throughout Pennsylvania.

Last week, there were 10,761 doses of the vaccine administered — 8,288 first doses and 2,473 second injections. On Monday, county officials said they are working to set up public vaccine clinics, but that they have not yet gotten enough vaccine to do so.

A total of 26,236 people in Bucks County have gotten a partial vaccination, the sixth-highest county total in Pennsylvania, and 8,234 have gotten both doses, the state's fifth-highest total.

State health officials last week said the vaccine numbers they are receiving from the federal government are fluctuating every week. They are expecting them to remain "relatively low" over the next few weeks.

Last week, fewer than 9,000 doses of vaccine were sent by the state to Bucks County.

Statewide, more than 600,000 people have received partial vaccinations and more than 190,000 have received full vaccinations in counties other than Philadelphia, which has its own reporting system.

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

On Monday, more than 200,000 people and business owners in Bucks County had registered to receive a vaccination through the county, officials said. Those who have registered will get an email from the county health department with further information and instructions.

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