Bucks County’s COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to increase.
The Bucks County Health Department reported what they called an “unprecedented” number of cases last week, which totaled more than 2,000.
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Comparing the numbers from last week to the same week in October, Bucks County saw COVID-19 cases increase by 456 percent.
Last week, the county reported 17 deaths of residents with COVID-19. The victims ranged in age from 33 to their 90s, and nine were residents in long-term care facilities.
In total, there have been 32 COVID-19 deaths reported in Bucks County this month, which is five times more than in all of October, the health department reported.
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As of Tuesday morning, officials reported 42 Bucks Countians were in hospitals with COVID-19, nine were in intensive care units, and three were on ventilators. The hospitalization number was more than double that from early last week.
“Among the new cases were 110 school-age children and nine school staff members. Of the students, only 13 were receiving in-class instruction on a daily basis. About one-third are taking classes virtually at home and more than half are enrolled in hybrid programs. Of the infected staff members, only four were working in schools on a daily basis,” the county health department’s statement said.
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The continued rise in COVID-19 cases comes as health officials from the federal to local level ask people to not gather in large groups, even over the Thanksgiving holiday. Case investigation has shown that many new cases in Bucks County recently have come from unmasked gatherings of friends, family, and co-workers.
“By every measure, the COVID landscape in Bucks County continues to worsen rapidly,” a county statement said.
Starting with their data release this week, the county health department began using Pennsylvania Department of Health numbers as their efforts had overwhelmed staff. County officials noted that there might be some slight discrepancies with state data.
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COVID-19 numbers across the state and nation continue to climb.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine stated that modeling from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington projects that the state will ran dangerously low and possibly even use available intensive care beds in December if cases don’t begin to drop.
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The state on Monday introduced a number of “targeted” mitigation measures in an attempt to curb COVID-19 cases.
Since the pandemic began, 14,483 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 658 deaths have been reported in Bucks County. The higher than previously reported number of deaths is due to the county using state data.
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