Percent of COVID-19 positive remains 4.3 percent over past week

The Delaware Division of Public Health reports seven people died of COVID-19 in over the past week.

However, three deaths were identified through ongoing reviews of death certificate records, leaving four deaths which actually occurred in the past week, officials said.

A total of 14,788 positive cases of COVID-19 among Delaware residents have been reported to DPH since March 11,  including 8,179 individuals who are considered recovered. In addition, 46 individuals are currently hospitalized down from 55 reported July 24. Eleven of the hospitalized persons are critically ill.

DPH recently shifted to providing a seven-day average of the percentage of persons who tested positive rather than a five-day rolling average. The seven-day average remained the same from 4.3% as of July 23 to 4.3% as of Thursday, July 30.

A total of 585 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from COVID-19. The total number of individuals who have died from COVID-19 ranged in age from 21 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 313 were females and 272 were males. A total of 287 individuals were from New Castle County, 107 were from Kent County, and 191 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.

New Curative Inc. Text Service will begin this week. Those tested through Delaware’s community saliva-based testing events will be able to receive results via text as well as email when an email address is provided. This enhanced service from Curative Inc. will reduce the time for those who do not provide an email address when registering to receive their test results.

Additional COVID-19 cases to be added to My Healthy Community. Over the weekend, those viewing Delaware COVID-19 statistics will notice what may appear to be a cumulative increase of 20 new positive cases. These cases were identified through late submissions of lab reports this week. The positive cases occurred between the second week in July and this week. While the cumulative number of positive cases will rise by 20 either Saturday or Sunday, they did not all occur in one day.   

Delaware COVID-19 data:

The latest Delaware COVID-19 case statistics cumulatively since March 11, provided as of 6 p.m., Thursday, July 30, include:

• 14,788 total positive cases
• New Castle County cases: 6,794
• Kent County cases: 2,167
• Sussex County cases: 5,608
• Unknown County: 219
• Females: 8,162; Males: 6,602; Unknown Sex: 24
• Age range: 0 to 104
• Currently hospitalized: 46; Critically ill: 11 (This data represents individuals currently hospitalized in a Delaware hospital regardless of residence, and is not cumulative.)
• Delawareans recovered: 8,179
• 166,259 negative cases

CDC recently updated its guidance related to discontinuation of self-isolation, therefore DPH has updated its guidance related to recovery. Generally, Delaware is now considering patients recovered after at least 24 hours have passed since the resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and/or improvement in symptoms, and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Individuals who tested positive who have not had any symptoms are considered recovered after at least 10 days have passed since the date of their first positive COVID-19 test with no subsequent illness.

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 have been a total of 1,193 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively involving long-term care residents, and 361 residents of Delaware long-term care facilities have died from complications related to COVID-19. Note: The total number of deaths among long-term care residents was updated since last Friday to account for five additional individuals who were since identified as residents of long-term care facilities.

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 (17)
• Brandywine Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Wilmington (34)   
• Brandywine Living at Seaside Pointe, Rehoboth Beach (2) 
• Cadia Healthcare Broadmeadow, Middletown (10)   
• Cadia Healthcare Capitol, Dover (12)
• Cadia Healthcare Renaissance, Millsboro (6)
• Cadia Healthcare North Wilmington/Silverside, Wilmington (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 (40)
• Hillside 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 (35)
• 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) 
• Six 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, can be found on the Division of Public Health’s My Healthy Community data portal at de.gov/healthycommunity.