In a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf, Bucks County’s top officials asked the state executive to give them “flexibility in managing our restoration.”
The letter, which was pushed forward by all three Commissioners, was sent last week.
Commissioners Chairperson Diane Ellis-Marseglia said the governor has not yet responded to their letter.
“I hope he reads the letter, and I hope he gives us the flexibility,” said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo.
Under the governor’s proposal for reopening, a county would have to reduce daily new recorded cases of COVID-19 to 50 per 100,000 residents. For the county, that means 320 new cases over a two week period, Ellis-Marseglia said.
With community spread making up about 10 percent or less of daily new cases, the county noted high numbers from long-term care facilities were inflating Bucks County’s new case number.
Last week, Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker said about half of all COVID-19 cases within the county were connected to residents of those facilities, employees there, or other front line workers.
Previously, state officials have said they did not plan to separate nursing homes from counts used in the reopening formula.
“In our efforts to increase access to testing in the community and long-term care facilities, we will see an uptick in cases, possibly in those who are mildly symptomatic, asymptomatic, or untested who were sick in the recent past but continue to test positive. That could easily drive up the numbers well beyond the threshold without actually increasing community risk, and permanently keep Bucks County in the ‘red zone,'” the letter from county officials said.
“It is important to note a growing decline in cooperation from the public in identifying information integral to this process, as there is now a possible disincentive for infected individuals to provide data, thinking it might prolong the economic shutdown or have other personal and family consequences,” they further stated.
County officials pointed to Bucks County’s efforts to maintain contact tracing to follow up with new cases and identify their cause.
During a virtual town hall Monday morning, Ellis-Marseglia responded to a question from the public stating that Philadelphia’s higher numbers are not impacting Bucks County’s reopening.
“What is effecting our numbers are the nursing home incidents, not Philadelphia,” she said.
Even without nursing home cases, Bucks County does not presently meet the governor’s standards, but that is expected to change in the coming weeks.
On Monday afternoon, Republican State Sen. Bob Mensch, Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, Rep. Frank Farry, Rep. Todd Polinchock, Rep. Meghan Schroeder, Rep. Craig Staats, Rep. Wendi Thomas, and Rep. Kathleen “K.C.” Tomlinson sent a letter of support for the Commissioners’ efforts to Wolf and Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine.
“With the acknowledgement that we have very little community spread and a significant amount of our cases are from long-term facilities, we hope that the state Department of Health could work with our county Health Department to determine when Bucks County can safely phase in reopening,” the GOP letter said.
The full Bucks County letter to the governor:
Dear Governor Wolf,
Thank you for your leadership in this very difficult and challenging time. We do not believe any of us were expecting to govern during such a devastating worldwide pandemic, but you have shown grace and made judicious choices as we have navigated together. Our management team, including our commissioners, chief operating officer, director of emergency management and health director, have carefully read and followed the directives issued by you and Dr. Levine.
An important part of our approach to this crisis has been daily team calls, daily review of data provided by our health department (long term care, hospitals, clinics, public response, contact tracing) and conference calls with the other four counties in the Philadelphia region. Through this information we have been able to watch COVID-19 move through the community from a few easily traceable cases to a more destructive outbreak in our long-term care facilities.
Although we participated in a five-county plan to return our counties to a normative process, we were grateful for your and Dr. Levine’s three-phased return to re-opening strategy, as it allowed Bucks more flexibility in managing our restoration. Having said that, we are submitting this letter as one of appeal as we endeavor to decrease the specific reliance on the incidence rate of COVID-19, per capita, as a major contributing factor to reopening.
As of today, we are able to report the positive news that the levels of pure community spread, defined as those residents not knowing where they were infected, has consistently dropped over time to approximately 10% or less of our daily cases, along with the more negative news that our businesses and residents are growing increasingly frustrated with the imposed restrictions.
We believe a regional or even county-wide assessment goal of an average of less than 50 cases per 100,000 individuals over the course of 14 days will have a detrimental effect on our effort to maintain Bucks County’s infrastructure of business, tourism and community support. In our efforts to increase access to testing in the community and long-term care facilities, we will see an uptick in cases, possibly in those who are mildly symptomatic, asymptomatic, or untested who were sick in the recent past but continue to test positive. That could easily drive up the numbers well beyond the threshold without actually increasing community risk, and permanently keep Bucks County in the “red zone.” As we have maintained a unique and robust contact tracing process throughout this crisis, we believe it is far more important to see and analyze the kinds of positives we are getting, more so than simply the numbers themselves. Additionally, it is important to note a growing decline in cooperation from the public in identifying information integral to this process, as there is now a possible disincentive for infected individuals to provide data, thinking it might prolong the economic shutdown or have other personal and family consequences.
Thank you for considering this appeal, along with a request to further discuss this with you, Dr. Levine, or your governing staff as soon as possible. We are grateful for your continuing guidance and collaboration as we work together to reopen and transition back to work and a more normative state.
Respectfully,
Commissioners Chair Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia
Commissioners Vice Chair Robert J. Harvie Jr.
Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo
Chief Operating Officer Margaret A. McKevitt
Health Department Director Dr. David C. Damsker
Emergency Management Director Scott T. Forster
