Three more Butler County residents were listed in Tuesday's COVID-19 death toll.

According to Tuesday's report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the county also added 78 new confirmed positives Tuesday, marking a three-day decline in new cases.

The county saw 153 cases added Saturday, 115 Sunday and 88 Monday before Tuesday's update. For the month of December, the county has averaged about 99 new confirmed cases per day.

In November, that average was about 56. In October, the county averaged about 16 new confirmed cases per day.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 5,477 county residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and 150 have died because of the virus.

Meanwhile, state health officials continue to recommend that residents stay home for the holidays and spend it only with immediate family members who already live in the same household.

In a news conference Tuesday, Lindsey Mauldin, a senior adviser with the Department of Health, discussed a new program involving digital case investigations that could help alleviate the burden of high call volumes for the department's 1,675 contact tracers.

Contact tracers will still call someone who tested positive. But instead of conducting the investigation over the phone, they will email a link, guiding the infected person to a form they can fill out.

“The Connect and Protect form only takes residents a few minutes to fill out, saving both the public health professionals and those newly diagnosed with COVID-19 one of their most precious resources — time,” Mauldin said.

Mauldin said contact tracing efforts lately have been focused on high-risk communities, such as nursing homes and other communal living environments. She said the use of the new form will be directed at people ages 19 to 64 in counties and municipal areas that do not have their own health departments.

“This case investigation is essential to learn more about where an individual diagnosed with COVID went and who they came into contact with when they were infectious,” she said.

Mauldin said there is optimism that more people will be willing to fill out the form instead of giving the information over the phone. However, answering the initial call remains a critical component.

For residents who do not have internet access or speak another language, the Department of Health plans to accommodate them by continuing with a phone investigation method.

“It is critical all Pennsylvanians take the time to complete their case investigation, whether it's over the phone or through our new Connect and Protect form,” Mauldin said.

While contact tracing could receive a boost, hopes are that testing capacities will continue to be adequate, according to Michael Huff, the department's director of testing and contact tracing.

Huff said the department is not anticipating that its testing capacity would be overwhelmed as a result of people who plan to travel for the holidays, despite contrary guidance.

“We recommend holiday gatherings with only your immediate family members,” he said.

Huff said the far greater concern is that people who travel will not get themselves tested when they return, even if they exhibit symptoms.

“We must believe these people who go to these events don't get tested, and that would be a greater concern that they don't get tested and they're spreading the disease,” he said.

Current state guidance regarding necessary travel includes a quarantine after returning home. When visiting other states, travelers are recommended to get tested after re-entering Pennsylvania.