As COVID-19 cases continue to spike once again across the country, Bucks County Health Director Dr. David Damsker wants locals to know that’s not the case in their communities.
“Regardless of what you hear in other states or nationally, we’re doing very well here in Bucks County,” he stressed during a recent virtual news conference.
Despite a small, expected uptick in cases following the July 4 holiday weekend, Damsker said that surge is coming back down. The county has been averaging about 30 new cases per day, with hospitalizations at the lowest rate they’ve been since March.
“Our hospitalizations are down to a dozen or less, with two people in critical condition. At one point, we had 265 to 270 people in the hospital, with dozens of people on ventilators. Now, we’re down to two,” Damsker said.
According to Damsker, this decline in local COVID-19 cases can be attributed to several factors, including the majority of residents following masking and social distancing protocols, as well as the Health Department’s contact tracing process. The department has conducted extensive case investigations from the onset of the pandemic, with staff able to contact 95.4 percent of all cases. This initiative aims to figure out whom an infected person came into contact with, and inform those contacts that they may have been exposed. They can then take appropriate action, whether that means taking a COVID-19 test or self-quarantining for 14 days to prevent the virus from potentially spreading further.
Recently, Damsker said he has seen an increase in individuals hesitant to provide necessary information.
“They may have gone to a party, they may have done something and don’t feel comfortable sort of dropping a dime on their friends or family,” he said. “Our contact tracing is purely to help the community get our numbers down because in the end, we want our businesses to be fully reopened, we want our schools to be reopened, we want our society to flourish again, and the only way we do that is through strong case investigation. No one’s getting in trouble. All we’re doing is letting people know, potentially, that they have coronavirus.”
The county commissioners approved the department’s request for a $900,000 contract with Concilio to hire additional, temporary staff to assist with contact tracing. Damsker said his staff has been conducting the entire process internally for six months, with many working six or seven days a week.
“It’s not that we can’t do it on our own. It’s that we need additional staff so that we can actually begin to plan. For instance, if there’s a coronavirus vaccine, our department may be responsible for getting it out. It’s very difficult to do case investigations and plan for future situations,” he explained.
When asked for his prediction on what the upcoming flu season may look like, Damsker expressed optimism.
“Personally, I think the flu season’s going to be minor. We’ve never had a flu season before where people are wearing masks and social distancing and not going to work sick. All the things that we’ve done traditionally, we’re doing the right thing now,” he said. “If we continue on the pace that we’re on, and doing the things that we’re doing, I suspect that we’ll have a fairly minor flu season.”
Damsker also shared his thoughts on Gov. Tom Wolf’s “strong recommendation” that youth sports be postponed until January 2021. In Bucks County, Damsker said there have been a few COVID-19 cases among athletes, though most were infected while traveling and recognized symptoms before going to practice.
“They’ve taken this very seriously,” he said of school districts and recreational leagues. “It all comes down to making sure the kids don’t participate sick, making sure that they follow the proper guidelines. Especially when you’re outside, we know that’s much safer with COVID, relative to playing sports inside. And even inside can be done safely if done properly.”
As promised earlier this summer, the commissioners purchased child- and adult-sized face shields for all county school districts. Those starting the academic year in-person or in a hybrid format will receive the shields first, followed by the districts beginning remotely.
“Eventually, the students will come back, and so they will need some level of protection,” said Scott T. Forster, Emergency Services director.
Also present during the conference was Grace Wheeler, a Network of Victim Assistance representative and county coordinator for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. She discussed how Aug. 20 was declared “Not On My Watch Day,” on which a free, special training was promoted for adults to recognize signs of child sexual abuse and ultimately prevent it. To date, 4,000 individuals have been trained. The goal, through additional upcoming webinars, is to train 5 percent of all Bucks County adults by 2021.
“We know that child sexual abuse is a topic that thrives in secrecy and silence, and it’s certainly underpinned by a lot of taboo. There’s a lot of myths around it. This training really provides the opportunity for us as a community to break the silence and have these conversations,” Wheeler said. “This is an opportunity for all of the adults in our community who have not done so yet to stand up and say, ‘Not on my watch. I will not allow the children in our communities and in our county to be sexually abused.’”
More information is available at NOVABucks.org/StopCSA.
Samantha Bambino can be reached at [email protected]
