Bucks County averaged only eight new COVID-19 infections per day last week, the first time since March 2020 that the daily rate has been in single digits.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 56 new COVID cases in Bucks last week as the county’s test positivity rate fell to 0.8 percent.
Of the county’s 54 municipalities, more than 25 have recorded fewer than 10 new cases during the past month, including six municipalities that had none. Ten COVID-positive patients are hospitalized countywide, one of them on a ventilator. Seven COVID-infected people died last week, raising the Bucks County death total for June to 14 and the pandemic total to 1,322.
Additionally, the county’s vaccination rates are hovering near the national average. Fifty-one percent of eligible county residents, ages 12 and up, have been fully vaccinated, compared to a national average of 53 percent. However, 64 percent of the 12+ population has received at least a first dose of vaccine in Bucks County, compared to 62 percent nationwide.
“People will say they will do anything to help their community or protect our country. Well, this is it,” said Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “Step up and get a vaccine. No excuses, no delays. This really is the most important thing you can do today, and possibly for many years to come.”
A total of 603,511 doses of vaccine have been administered in Bucks, enough to fully vaccinate 278,872 people and partially vaccinate 70,241 others. Vaccination clinics operated or overseen by the Bucks County Health Department have accounted for more than one-fourth of that total.
The county’s four mass vaccination sites remain open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, through July 3, when sites at the Perkasie and Newtown campuses of Bucks County Community College will close. Clinics at Neshaminy Mall and the Warwick Square shopping center will continue on a reduced schedule, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, when the county reopens July 6 after the holiday weekend.
In addition to the larger clinics, the county will offer pop-up vaccination clinics at a number of county sites this week:
– Wednesday, June 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. – Northampton Fire Department Station 83, 283 Hatboro Road, Churchville
– Thursday, June 24, from 5 to 7 p.m. – Chalfont Fire Department, 301 N. Main St., Chalfont
– Thursday, June 24, from 5 to 7 p.m. – Upper Makefield Fire Company Station 71, 1221 Taylorsville Road, Washington Crossing
– Friday, June 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. – Gaudenzia Lower Bucks, 501 Bath Road, Bristol
– Saturday, June 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. – Norton Avenue Baptist Church, 1230 Norton Ave., Bristol
Shots are available at all sites without appointments required. All locations offer both the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
