407 new COVID-19 cases in Delaware

Matt Bittle
Posted 5/6/20

DOVER — Delaware announced 407 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the third largest day-over-day increase so far. The state is now at 5,778 cases, as well as 193 deaths.

The Division of …

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407 new COVID-19 cases in Delaware

Posted

DOVER — Delaware announced 407 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the third largest day-over-day increase so far. The state is now at 5,778 cases, as well as 193 deaths.

The Division of Public Health said 299 people are currently hospitalized, with 65 critically ill, as of 6 p.m. Tuesday. In all, 2,008 Delawareans have recovered, meaning almost 3,600 cases are are still active. Those individuals are either hospitalized or self-isolating at home.

Sussex County continues to see the bulk of the cases: While just 24 percent of Delawareans live there, 48 percent of COVID-19 cases have involved residents of the southernmost county. Given its prevalence, Delaware is offering free testing in Sussex to help stamp out the spread.

A spokeswoman for DPH attributed Wednesday's sudden spike to "a combination of increased testing in Sussex County and the flow of testing results coming from the private labs."

In total, there have been 2,764 cases and 75 deaths involving Sussex, compared to 2,087 and 85 for New Castle County and 891 and 33 for Kent County. Additionally, 36 cases have involved a Delawarean from a yet-undetermined county.

The outbreak has been particularly severe in the greater Georgetown area, with 4 percent of people in the 19947 ZIP code testing positive.

Delaware’s first official coronavirus case came on March 11, with the first death announced March 26.

One week ago, the state had seen 4,655 cases and 144 deaths. There were 3,200 cases and 89 deaths one week prior to that.

The deaths announced Wednesday involved three men and three women ranging in age from 69 to 96, DPH said. Three lived in Sussex, two lived in New Castle and one lived in Kent.

Three were residents of long-term care facilities, a category about two-thirds of the deceased individuals fall into.

Statewide, Delawareans who have had confirmed cases range in age from less than a year old to 103, with deaths involving people from 26 to 103, according to DPH. Eleven Delawareans younger than 50 have passed away from the virus, including five no older than 34.

Of the 193 deaths, 38 involved people with no underlying health conditions.

In all, there have been 3,133 cases and 102 deaths involving females and 2,627 cases and 91 deaths involving males. Eighteen cases involve people of currently unknown sex.

By race, the spread breaks down thusly: 1,604 cases involving non-Hispanic blacks, 1,508 cases involving non-Hispanic whites, 1,383 cases involving Hispanics or Latinos, 86 cases involving Asians or Pacific Islanders and 335 cases involving people from another race or multiple races. In 862 instances, race is unknown.

By death, it’s 111 whites, 53 blacks, eight Hispanics or Latinos, one Asian or Pacific Islander, three from another race or multiple races and 17 belonging to an unknown race.

Adjusted for population size, whites in Delaware are seven times less likely than Hispanics and more than three times less likely than blacks to have COVID-19.

There have been 26,468 total tests, DPH said, although it cautions the figure is preliminary and should not be used as a substitute for the overall number of Delawareans who have been tested.

The division has stopped offering information on specific deaths and is also providing updated statistics on nursing home cases only on Fridays.

Based on guidance from the CDC, Delaware is counting deaths of individuals with laboratory-confirmed cases and people who had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and exposed but never tested.

Because of volume, the hospitalization and critically ill numbers now include non-Delawareans, although all other totals are just Delaware residents, according to DPH.

As usual, the agency did not release additional details about the cases Wednesday, citing health privacy laws.

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