Bucks Co. Clinics Vaccinate 1,700, As Cases Keep Dropping

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Despite a series of winter storms that made travel difficult and forced postponements, Bucks County's three new COVID-19 vaccine clinics administered more than 1,700 doses to residents last week.

As the vaccination effort ramped up, the county also saw a significant drop in the number of new coronavirus cases. State figures showed 1,010 new cases in Bucks County from Feb. 14-20 — a 32-percent decrease from the previous week.

"We continue to see cases dropping and vaccination numbers going up. It's a winning trend for long-term control of the outbreak," said Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department. "Even if the vaccine supply isn't as good as we want it to be, every person that is immunized brings us closer to our goals."

Bucks County COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Updates

Last week, the county's public clinics on three Bucks County Community College campuses administered 1,737 doses of the vaccine. That's despite having to postpone appointments twice due to the snowstorms.

Those were among the 15,126 doses administered in Bucks County last week, according to state figures. Through Saturday, 84,354 doses had been given in Bucks County, with 37,384 people having gotten a single dose and another 23,485 having received both doses of the two-dose vaccination.

Most doses so far have been delivered at county hospitals, which first vaccinated their own employees and other healthcare workers before opening up appointments to members of the public currently eligible under Phase 1A of Pennsylvania's vaccination plan.

On Monday, Bucks County received a shipment of 2,300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for use at the clinics next week. That's after receiving no shipment last week due to the bad weather.

After opening Tuesday, the three campus clinics delivered 1,176 doses of vaccine on Tuesday and Wednesday. But, then, snow and hazardous road conditions forced officials to postpone appointments on Thursday and Friday.

Those appointments were rescheduled for Sunday and Monday, according to officials. Another 561 people received vaccinations at the sites on Saturday, officials said.

Due to a limited vaccine supply, the three sites currently are able to schedule 200 vaccinations per day at each location, or 3,000 per week. Once vaccine is more plentiful, they say, they'll be able to vaccinate 7,500 people every week.

Officials said they also have three more sites reserved, meaning that if enough vaccine arrived, they could give up to 15,000 shots per week.

RELATED: Vaccine Supply Increase In Bucks Co. Not Expected Until March

With vaccinations underway, new coronavirus cases in Bucks County continued a weeks-long decline last week. The seven-day average for new cases last week was 146 — the county's lowest since the week of Nov. 6.

The county's test-positivity rate also declined significantly, from 9.6 percent to 8.2 percent last week.

However, 26 new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Bucks County last week, bringing the county's total to 54 in February and 1,111 since the pandemic began last spring.

Through Saturday, the county's case total since the pandemic began was 43,996.

Hospitalizations last week remained largely unchanged, with 90 patients in Bucks County hospitals with the virus and 20 of them in intensive care. Of those, 15 were on ventilators, according to state figures.

Twenty-seven percent of Bucks County's adult intensive-care hospital beds remained available, along with 26 percent of all adult medical surgical beds.

Bucks is currently scheduling people in the 1A category who registered for vaccinations on or before Jan. 15 on the county’s Coronavirus Vaccine Information page. About 154,000 people in 1A have registered there to date, officials said.

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