And while he said it’s too early to start widely rolling back those social distancing efforts, he does think it’s the right time to start discussing cautious, stepwise reopenings.
“Those conversations need to be had but they also need to be had through the same lens that if we do open businesses up, we may have to get used to the idea we may be wearing masks for months to come, that we may be keeping social distancing for months to come,” he said
Damsker said we can start having conversations about how to safely be able to roll back social distancing, but we’re not at the point where we can begin to reopen things.
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“Eventually we all know no matter what happens we can’t keep the economy shut down for months and months at a time. So if we do this in a stepwise manner while we open things up, make sure people continue to do social distancing, wearing masks, businesses keeping people apart, in addition to quicker testing, better contact tracing,” he said.
County parks will reopen Monday, and officials ask residents to practice social distancing and not to large groups. Commissioners ask people who have space to walk — in their neighborhood or area shopping centers — to use that space and let residents who don't have space a chance to use the parks.
Damsker said just under half of the 60-plus deaths in the county have been in nursing homes or long-term care facilities.
“These are the most fragile patients you can have in our entire society. We have had a few situations in centers that have outbreaks. It’s not just related to Bucks County,” he said.
Damsker said they are in regular contact with the more than 30 long-term care facilities in Bucks County to help prevent the spread of coronavirus in nursing homes.
And, he said, while their hearts are with families who are losing loved ones, he doesn’t want people to be alarmed when they hear the numbers of deaths each day.
“I want them to realize, while we feel horribly for those families, if you look at it from a 30,000 foot view, these deaths are not occurring in the general public for the most part and that’s a good positive sign. And people are not getting infected from being out in the public for the most part. So these are good positive trends that we are looking at,” Damsker said.
Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia said she understands how difficult it is for people who have a loved one in a nursing home right now — her mother is in a home, and is at a point where she can no longer communicate.
“And I know although I cannot provide consolation to my mother, I would like to be able to lay my eyes on her and know that her welfare is okay. So I want to say to those of you who are in my shoes, we are in this together, we are trusting caretakers together. None of us expected this was going to happen when we entrusted our parents’ care to long-term care facilities. But I know in my heart that my mother is being cared for, as are your loved ones,” she said.
Marseglia said if anyone wants to commiserate about a loved one in a home, they can email her.