By Tim Mastro

DOVER — A significant percentage of Delaware’s new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are among unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated individuals, according to new data released by the Delaware Division of Public Health.

DPH said 86% of new hospitalizations for the week of Aug. 8-15, the most recent available dataset, were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated (91 out of 106). For new cases during the same time frame, 1,451 out of 1,828 (79%) were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

“Vaccination continues to be the most important factor in reducing deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19,” DPH said in a statement.

Four out of the five deaths reported during this week were not fully vaccinated, the division added.

The DPH reported a total of 1,236 breakthrough cases of COVID-19, out of 485,033 fully vaccinated Delawareans — approximately one-quarter of 1% of vaccinated individuals. There were 332 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in the last week.

All 25 positive variant samples sequenced at the DPH Lab last week were identified as the delta variant, including five sequenced at an outside lab.

The DPH has found an all-time total of 144 confirmed cases of the delta variant through sequencing.

Sequencing for variants is a complex process, the DPH said, and not used for diagnosing COVID-19. It is used after a positive case of COVID-19 has been identified for surveillance purposes, or in identifying the presence of a variant strain in the community. Since not every positive case is sequenced for variants, the actual number of delta variant cases in the state is likely higher.

The DPH reported 188 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 in Monday’s update — the most since Feb. 17 when the state was coming down from the peak of the pandemic in the winter. Of those currently hospitalized, the DPH said 35 cases are considered critical.

Delaware has averaged 328.7 new positive cases of the virus per day over the last week. The DPH reported 288 new cases in Monday’s update, bringing the state’s total to 117,051.

The seven-day rolling average for percentage of positive tests dropped to 7.5%, down from 8% two days prior. The most recent mark of 7.5% is as of Friday at 6 p.m. due to two-day lag to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date the DPH receives the test result.

No new COVID-19-related deaths were announced as that total remained at 1,854.