College Students Behind New Bucks Co., PA COVID Cases

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Bucks County's rate of new coronavirus cases has ticked up slightly again, with local health officials saying college students are at the heart of the increase.

That echoes word from Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, who said college students could turn the tide on the virus by following safety guidelines.

Over the past four day, Bucks County has averaged 36 new coronavirus cases per day. That's higher than the first week of September, when Bucks averaged 35 cases per day, and last week, when the average had dipped to 31.

RELATED: Bucks Co. Small Business Grant Applications Open

"If not for social gatherings and college students becoming infected while socializing, Bucks County would have very few infections," said Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Department of Health. "People need to continue to take precautions in social settings by wearing masks and distancing themselves from others. If everyone did that, our numbers would be very low."

Eight people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Bucks County as of Monday, with three in critical condition and on ventilators. Three new deaths from coronavirus have been reported in September, bringing Bucks County's total throughout the pandemic to 524.

New cases of the coronavirus have been on the rise throughout Pennsylvania in the past few weeks, coinciding with students' return to college.

Levine said college students are "uniquely in a position to help change the course of the spread of this virus."

"What happens on campus has a direct impact on what happens off campus, and if the virus spreads among students, it will invariably spread to other places in the community," she said.

In North Central Pennsylvania, home to Penn State's main campus, 19-to-24-year-olds accounted for 7 percent of the states's coronavirus cases in April, but make up 69 percent of cases so far in September.

Northeast Pennsylvania posted a similar jump in the same age group, from 6 percent of cases in April to 40 percent in September, according to Levine.

Of the 142 infections confirmed in Bucks County from Friday through Monday, 15 of them were delayed reports no longer considered to be infectious. Another 67 were spread among people in the same households, 19 were attributed to community spread, 15 were people infected in other states, eight were infected at work, five are residents or workers at long-term care facilities, two are healthcare workers and 26 were unable to immediately complete full interviews.

Since the pandemic began, Bucks County has had 7,811 residents test positive for COVID-19. Of those, 6,903 are confirmed to have recovered. The median age of those who have been infected in Bucks is 51, while the median age of death is 84.