FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Larry R. King, 215-348-6413, lrking@buckscounty.org
The deaths of 38 Bucks County COVID-19 patients were reported last week by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the most in one week here since late May.
A total of 83 Bucks County deaths were attributed to COVID in November. That made last month the third-deadliest of the pandemic, after April (280 deaths) and May (253 deaths).
And while post-Thanksgiving deaths rose considerably, new COVID cases continued to shatter records.
The state reported 3,227 new infections in Bucks from Nov. 29 – Dec. 5, an average of 461 per day. It was the first time the weekly case total exceeded 3,000 and daily cases averaged more than 400 per day. 
Last week’s death total included 23 men and 15 women ranging in age from 28 to 95. Eight were in their 90s, 11 in their 80s, eight in their 70s, six in their 60s, four in their 50s, and one in her 20s. Nineteen resided in long-term care facilities.
As of Saturday, 78 county residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, eight of them on ventilators.
Twenty-seven percent of the adult ICU beds in Bucks County hospitals remained available, along with 34 percent of all medical-surgical beds and 72 percent of all ventilators.
Bucks County had a 15.3 percent test positivity rate for the week, once again exceeding the statewide rate of 14.4 percent. The state reports a total of 19,988 confirmed cases of COVID in the county throughout the pandemic and 719 deaths.
Most non-judicial Bucks County offices remain open to the public on an appointment-only basis through Jan. 4, 2021. Public officials continue to urge the public to refrain from out-of-state travel and social gatherings, and to wear masks indoors and when close to others outside.
Bucks County case investigators have focused attention on infections among older adults and school students, last week identifying 88 new cases among residents and staff of long-term care facilities. A total of 232 students and 31 school staff tested positive for COVID.
Most of the infected students are taking all or some of their classes virtually, while 18 percent are confirmed to be fulltime in-class students.
Elsewhere throughout Pennsylvania, COVID infections continued to spread with no sign of slowing. The week ended with a record 12,884 new positive test results on Saturday, the third straight day of 11,000-plus increases. The statewide total of infections passed 400,000, while 11,262 Pennsylvanians have died and 1,065 were in intensive care units with COVID as of Saturday.
Statistics, charts, links to state health department data and other coronavirus-related information can be found on the county’s data portal: https://covid19-bucksgis.hub.arcgis.com.