By Tim Mastro

DOVER — Delaware’s COVID-19-related death toll increased by 16 on Tuesday, after a review of Vital Statistics records.

The Delaware Division of Public Health reported 10 of the 16 newly announced were from the Vital Statistics review. Nine of the 10 were deaths which occurred in December while one was from November.

The 16 total deaths ranged in age from 29 to 101 years old. They bring Delaware’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 1,065.

Eight of the 16 were residents of long-term care centers. Long-term care facility residents have made up 570 of the state’s 1,065 deaths (53.5%).

Ten of the newly announced deaths were from New Castle County while four were from Sussex County and two were from Kent County. New Castle County has recorded the most COVID-19-related deaths with 532, followed by Sussex County’s 340 and Kent County’s 193.

Delaware received 12,925 additional doses of the vaccine on Monday, according to the DPH’s vaccine tracker using information in the state’s immunization system DelVAX as of Monday at 11:59 p.m.. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine data tracker has Delaware with 129,250 doses received however.

The reason for the different numbers is the CDC’s tracker includes doses reserved for the Federal Pharmacy Program for long-term care facilities, which are not in Delaware yet, said DPH spokesperson Jen Brestel.

“The My Healthy Community Vaccine Tracker does not currently include these doses as this allotment was never delivered to Delaware but banked for the LTCFs (long-term care facilities),” Ms. Brestel said. “We are looking to incorporate that information into our vaccine tracker in the near future.”

Ms. Brestel said Delaware’s weekly allocation from the federal government for this is 18,725 doses (11,900 Moderna and 6,825 Pfizer). These doses were ordered on Jan. 22 and the state is expected to receive the total in the next few days. Shipments usually come in on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The state is reporting 77,924 doses administered as of Monday at 11:59 p.m., which would leave 31,326 doses remaining in inventory. But the number of doses administered is likely higher as the state is still inputting data from large-scale vaccination events over the weekend and is dealing with other reporting delays.

“More doses have been administered than are showing up on the vaccine tracker,” the DPH notes. “This is because of health care provider delays in reporting doses administered to DelVAX. DPH is also working to enter data for the doses administered during large-scale vaccination events held between Jan. 22-Jan. 25. These data will be reflected on the vaccine tracker over the coming days.”

Delaware has recorded a total of 75,490 positive COVID-19 cases since March 11, including 304 new cases in Tuesday’s report which reflects data as of Monday at 6 p.m.. The number of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by two compared to the day prior, down to 383 with 47 cases considered critical.