COVID-19 Cases Dropping 'Rapidly' In Bucks Co.: See Latest Data

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — New COVID-19 infections in Bucks County are dropping rapidly, officials said Wednesday. In the last week alone, cases have decreased by 28 percent and have dropped by 42 percent over the past month, according to the Bucks County Department of Health.

Locally, there were 1,143 new cases in the past week. That's down from 1,960 a week over the same period of time last month. The seven-day average of new cases fell to 165 per day on Saturday, the lowest rate in six weeks, according to data supplied by the county.

Hospitalizations are also on the decline: There were 72 COVID-19 patients in Bucks County hospitals as of Saturday, which is down 28 percent from the previous week. Of those 28, four are on ventilators, the health department said.

“Yesterday we had less than 100 positive cases in Bucks County. Right now there are less than 10 people in the ICU, and less than five on ventilators,” said Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department. “We are winning this fight.”

The news comes as Bucks County said its vaccination efforts are making steady progress.

The county’s five mass vaccination sites administered more than 15,000 doses last week.

Since mid-February, county-overseen sites have now given more than 110,000 shots of the vaccine. Vaccine providers throughout the county have now administered 431,217 total doses, enough to fully vaccinate 174,737 people and partially vaccinate another 98,219.

About 54 percent of adults in Bucks County have received at least one dose.

“The difference between now and every other time we had a sizeable reduction in cases is that people are being vaccinated every day, reducing the pool of people where the virus can spread,” Damsker said. “Very soon we are going to put this in our rearview mirror.”

Statewide, 50.3 percent of Pennsylvanians have now received at least one dose of vaccine.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced all coronavirus mitigation orders except masking would expire on Memorial Day. The masking order will remain in place until 70 percent of adults are vaccinated. READ MORE: A To Lift All COVID Mitigation Orders On Memorial Day: Gov. Wolf

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