Carney: More vaccinations in Delaware the key to not going backward

By Tim Mastro
Posted 8/5/21

WILMINGTON — As Delaware continues to experience a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Gov. John Carney called on those who are not vaccinated to receive their shots to prevent the state from going backward.

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Carney: More vaccinations in Delaware the key to not going backward

Posted

WILMINGTON — As Delaware continues to experience a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Gov. John Carney called on those who are not vaccinated to receive their shots to prevent the state from going backward.

“Those folks who are unvaccinated are prolonging the pandemic,” Gov. Carney said during a COVID-19 press briefing Thursday. “They are bringing us to a place where we have to reconsider mitigation efforts.”

Gov. Carney’s state of emergency order ended July 13, but Delaware’s COVID-19 statistics are currently the highest they have been in months.

The state is averaging 135.9 new COVID-19 cases per day over the last week — the largest seven-day rolling average since May 12. The Delaware Division of Public Health reported 195 new cases in Thursday’s update, which is the highest one-day total since there were 206 positives May 8.

Hospitalizations increased by seven compared to the day prior, up to 60. It is the first time there have been 60 COVID-19 hospitalizations since May 29. Of those currently hospitalized, nine cases are considered critical, according to DPH.

The division said 99% of new positive cases and hospitalizations are from unvaccinated persons.

“Vaccination is the best way to end this pandemic,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “It is the most important public health tool that we have.”

The state, she said, is monitoring 12 ZIP codes that DPH considers areas of concern — with a positive-case rate at or higher than 100 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 10% for the past week. More than half of those are in Sussex County — Delmar, Laurel, Seaford, Bridgeville, Greenwood, Lincoln and Georgetown. Six of those ZIP codes have less than 40% of their residents fully vaccinated, with Lincoln just barely above the 40% mark at 41.7%. Delmar is the only section of the state below 30% at 28.3%.

“Clearly, western Sussex is a hot spot right now in our state, and it is also the area of our state where we have the lowest vaccination rates,” Dr. Rattay said. “We’re keeping a very close eye on this. Certainly, it is a concern.”

Gov. Carney said officials have been working with local community groups and schools in that area to help with the lagging vaccination rate.

“Is that an area of concern? Absolutely,” he said. “I hate to say there are potentially political reasons for that, unfortunately, but we continue to try to meet people where we are and use trusted sources in the community. You don’t see that in other places.”

Gov. Carney said the state is focused on increasing vaccinations before imposing any restrictions. A list of vaccination sites is available at de.gov/getmyvaccine.

Delaware has not had a mask mandate since May 22, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals wear masks in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.

CDC defines substantial spread as 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 people or a seven-day average positivity rate between 8%-9.99%. All three Delaware counties have substantial rates of COVID-19 transmission, according to CDC’s criteria.

“It’s a simple and direct matter for all of us,” Gov. Carney said. “We want to get all of our children back in school full time for in-person instruction. That’s been our objective for months now. We want to get businesses to remain open with no restrictions, and we want to move on and rebuild from this crisis. We can do all this, and we can prevent going backwards here, if we get more people vaccinated.”

Gov. Carney on Thursday said the state “needs to make a decision pretty quickly” on a possible mask mandate in schools for the upcoming year. The state is still exploring how mask rules would work in schools without the state of emergency.

The governor added that the state is also looking for ways to increase vaccinations at long-term care centers and other health care facilities.

A total of 521,372 individuals have been vaccinated in Delaware, according to DPH’s vaccine tracker. An additional 69,486 are partially vaccinated and are awaiting their second dose of a two-dose vaccine series.

With New York City announcing its plans this week to require proof of vaccination for indoor facilities such as restaurants and gyms, Gov. Carney said that was not something Delaware was planning to do at the moment due to the technological challenges.

“Not many states really have the technology to implement that,” he said. “We don’t have that luxury at the moment.”

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