Delaware back on regional quarantine list

Delaware is back on quarantine lists for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut despite its improving COVID-19 statistics.

Gov. John Carney was not happy with the states putting Delaware on the quarantine list again a week after removing it from a previous list.

“I’m mad as hell, frankly,” he said during a July 21 press conference. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, echoed similar outrage.

“Just had a Rehoboth hotel owner call to say he has lost $30K in bookings for coming weekend since news of return to list came out yesterday, and it’s only Wednesday,” Lopez wrote to Carney July 22. “This needs to stop.”

Lopez asked Carney to remind New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo how angry Cuomo was in March when President Donald Trump threatened to quarantine the tri-state area as COVID-19 cases surged in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. 

A week ago, those three states put Delaware on a quarantine list because Delaware’s percentage of positive COVID-19 cases was above 5 percent and the 5-day average for cases was above 100. Those two metrics were used to put Delaware on the list even though the state’s number of hospitalizations and critically ill patients had fallen to March levels.

After Carney spoke with the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut governors, Delaware was taken off the list, but is now back on it based solely on the average number of daily cases. Carney said Delaware’s average should be at 97, but it remains above 100 because of the amount of testing conducted throughout the state. Delaware’s latest percent positive is 4.2 percent, better than other states in the region such as Pennsylvania, which is not on the list. Carney said there were two days that set Delaware back, but that’s not enough to put Delaware on the list again. Carney said other states are using a trigger that automatically puts Delaware on the quarantine list, but their process should be more thoughtful.

“As I said to Gov. Murphy (NJ) and Gov. Cuomo (NY) last week, we’re going to be on and off the list unless we stop testing, and we’re not going to stop testing,” he said. “We’re better today than we were when we were taken off the list.”

Delaware remained on the quarantine list as of the Cape Gazette’s press deadline July 23.