State long-term facilities post three new deaths

Three new deaths at Delaware’s long-term facilities have brought the state’s total to four from COVID-19.

The most recent deaths were a 72-year-old woman from Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill in Smyrna who died April 17, and two who died April 18 – an 81-year-old woman from the same facility who died at a Kent County hospital, and an 82-year-old woman at Delaware Psychiatric Center near New Castle who died in a New Castle County hospital.

On April 14, a 57-year-old man from Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City at a New Castle County hospital.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the residents from Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill and the patient from Delaware Psychiatric Center who passed away,” said DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, a practicing family physician. “Across our state, we see the heartbreaking toll the coronavirus is taking on the residents of our long-term care facilities and their families. Our Division of Public Health and the Division of Health Care Quality are working closely with the facilities to help care for those who are sick, and to protect the health and safety of all other residents and staff.”