Key Coronvirus Metrics Spike In Bucks Co., State Says

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Metrics used by Pennsylvania health officials to monitor the spread of the coronavirus spiked in Bucks County last week, while those looking at hospitalizations from the virus remained low.

Four of the six metrics used in the state Department of Health's COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard increased dramatically last week, while the other two remained essentially flat. The most recent data covers the week of Oct. 30-Nov. 5.

Here is how Bucks County fared, metric-by-metric, in the most recent data:

• Confirmed Cases. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bucks County jumped by 190 over the previous week. The state counted 670 new cases from Oct. 30-Nov. 5, compared to 480 the week before. Those numbers did not include Friday, Nov. 6, which Bucks County health officials have said set a new single-day record with 161 cases.
• Rate Per 100,000 People. The county's incidence rate of the coronavirus also was up last week. There were 106.7 cases per 100,000 people in Bucks County, according to the data, compared to 76.4 cases the week before.
• Positivity Rate. The rate of people who got COVID-19 tests and tested positive, which was already higher than health officials like, got even higher. The positivity rate in Bucks County was 6.2 percent, up from 5 percent the week before. During Pennsylvania's coronavirus shutdown, officials were looking for rates at less than 3 percent as signs that the spread was slowing and enough tests were available.
• Average Daily Hospitalizations. The daily number of hospitalizations for the coronavirus increased last week in Bucks, but remained low. There was an average of 8.7 hospitalizations per day last week, compared to 5.7 per day the week prior.
• Patients On Ventilators. In positive news, the number of coronavirus patients sick enough to be on ventilators last week in Bucks County remained statistically at zero. That's no change from the week before. In weekly updates, Bucks County health officials have been reporting numbers in the single digits of patients in critical condition and on ventilators.
• Emergency Room Visits. The percentage of hospital emergency room visits attributed to the coronavirus in Bucks County also remained at less than 1 percent last week. Last week's number was .6 percent, down a tick from the .7 percent reported the previous week.

Responding to the rising numbers, Bucks County commissioners this week urged residents to keep wearing masks and practicing social distancing — even while acknowledging the eight-month pandemic has been exhausting and frustrating.

"All of us are tired of wearing masks," said Commissioner Bob Harvie said. "We’re tired of the interruptions to everything we had planned. We’re tired of postponing graduation parties and weddings and other events.

"We're definitely seeing this COVID fatigue and the impact it’s having on our numbers. (But) keep wearing the mask, keep following social distancing, keep up the discipline that … helped get the numbers down, because they’re going up again."

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health, said improved treatment methods and the fact that the new wave of the virus has largely hit a younger, healthier population than the one in the spring have been factors in hospitalization rates so far staying low.

Commission Chairwoman Diane Ellis Marseglia said Tuesday that officials don't think a second shutdown is needed in Bucks County to get the outbreak under control.