COVID-19 cases continue rise over the past week

The number of people hospitalized and in critical care increased this week as the daily number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Delaware, according to the latest data provided by the Division of Public Health.

A total of 20,937 positive cases of COVID-19 among Delaware residents has been reported to DPH since March 11,  including 10,678 individuals who are considered recovered. The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 increased from 6.8% as of Sept. 24 to 7.9% as of Oct. 1. The number of new daily cases each day this week has remained elevated, with the seven-day average of new daily cases at 122.3. In addition, 83 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, which represents a 57% increase compared to 53 hospitalizations reported as of last Friday's update. Sixteen of the hospitalized persons are critically ill, up five from last week.

A total of 642 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from COVID-19. The state reported 11 additional deaths since last week's update. Individuals who have died from COVID-19 range in age from 21 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 332 were female and 310 were male. A total of 317 individuals were from New Castle County, 118 were from Kent County, and 207 were from Sussex County.

To protect personal health information, DPH will not confirm specific information about any individual case, even if other persons or entities disclose it independently.

COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities

The Division of Public Health continues to investigate COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities throughout the state. Facilities where significant ongoing outbreaks are occurring, as of Oct. 1:

• Kentmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Wilmington: 46 residents and 27 staff members 
• Cadia Healthcare Silverside in Wilmington: 41 residents and fewer than 20 staff members 
• Country Rest Home in Greenwood: 26 residents and 15 staff members  

Some long-term care facilities are utilizing point-of-care antigen testing to test residents. DPH has become aware of occurrences of false positive results from some antigen tests, therefore DPH has provided guidance to these facilities, requesting that any patient (staff member or resident) from a long-term care facility who has a positive result with antigen testing have an additional specimen collected and sent for priority processing at the Delaware Public Health Laboratory. If confirmatory testing leads to a decrease in the total number of positive cases identified at facilities with significant outbreaks, DPH will provide an update on the above statistics. It is important to note, however, this does not change the fact that significant outbreaks are occurring in these facilities, nor does it change the additional infection-control measures the facilities have implemented, after consultation with DPH, as part of the outbreak response.  

New venue dashboard: The DPH COVID-19 data portal now includes a new dataset that shows the types of venues visited by individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks prior to their symptom onset (or if no symptoms, date of their test). These data are meant to offer insight into the types of activities individuals reported participating in prior to their diagnosis. While these data suggest potential exposure during these visits, it does not indicate whether virus transmission actually occurred at those locations. The venue dashboard can be found in the “Cases” section at de.gov/healthycommunity.

Delaware COVID-19 data:

The latest Delaware COVID-19 case statistics cumulatively since March 11, provided as of 6 p.m. Oct. 1, include:

• 20,937 total positive cases
• New Castle County cases: 10,813
• Kent County cases: 3,121
• Sussex County cases: 6,913
• Unknown county: 90
• Females: 11,257; Males: 9,641; Unknown Sex: 39
• Age range: 0 to 104
• Currently hospitalized: 83; Critically ill: 16 (This data represents individuals currently hospitalized in a Delaware hospital regardless of residence, and is not cumulative.)
• Delawareans recovered: 10,678
• 269,346 negative cases.

School-related COVID-19 statistics

The Division of Public Health is providing statewide aggregate data on the total number of COVID-19 positive cases among students and staff who were in-person at a school or child care facility while potentially infectious, reported to DPH since Sept. 1. To determine the start of the infectious period, or when others may have been exposed to someone infectious, DPH looks 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms or 48 hours prior to testing for those who had no symptoms. These data only indicate potential exposure to COVID-19 in these settings, not whether exposure actually occurred.

Cumulative number of COVID-19 positive students and staff, statewide, who were in-person at a school or child care facility while potentially infectious, reported to DPH between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1:

• Child care – 20 students and staff
• Private K-12 – 25 students and staff
• Public K-12 – 28 students and staff.

Long-term care statistics

Information related to positive cases and deaths among residents at long-term care facilities will be updated weekly each Friday, using information reported as of 6 p.m. Thursday. There has been a total of 1,349 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively involving long-term care residents, and 380 residents of Delaware long-term care facilities have died from complications related to COVID-19.

The locations and number of deaths involving residents of long-term care facilities are:

• Atlantic Shores Rehabilitation and Health Center, Millsboro (17)
• Brackenville Center, Genesis Healthcare, Hockessin (18)
• Brandywine Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Wilmington (34)
• Brandywine Living at Seaside Pointe, Rehoboth Beach (2)
• Cadia Healthcare Broadmeadow, Middletown (10)
• Cadia Healthcare Capitol, Dover (14)
• Cadia Healthcare Renaissance, Millsboro (9)
• Cadia Healthcare North Wilmington/Silverside, Wilmington (9)
• Country Rest Home, Greenwood (4)
• Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill, Smyrna (11)
• Governor Bacon Health Center, Delaware City (1)
• HarborChase of Wilmington, Wilmington (4)
• Harbor Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Lewes (20)
• Harrison House Senior Living, Georgetown (41)
• Hillside Center, Wilmington (3)
• Kentmere Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, Wilmington (3)
• Little Sisters of the Poor, Newark (11)
• ManorCare Health Services, Wilmington (13)
• ManorCare Health Services, Pike Creek (20)
• Methodist Country House, Wilmington (4)
• Millcroft, Newark (2)
• Milford Center, Genesis Healthcare, Milford (36)
• New Castle Health and Rehabilitation Center, New Castle (11)
• Newark Manor Nursing Home, Newark (11)
• Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation, Wilmington (26)
• Pinnacle Rehabilitation and Health Center, Smyrna (24)
• Regal Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Hockessin (5)
• Summit Assisted Living, Hockessin (3)
• Sunrise Assisted Living, Wilmington (2)
• Westminster Village, Dover (7)
• Five other New Castle County long-term care facilities (1 death at each facility)

Additional demographic data on COVID-19 cases and deaths, including race/ethnicity, more age-specific data and rates information by ZIP code, and information on Delaware's contact tracing efforts can be found on the Division of Public Health's My Healthy Community data portal at de.gov/healthycommunity.