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Scenes from a year under COVID-19
Beebe Healthcare nurses and staff have the first COVID-19 public testing clinic March 14, 2020.
March 12, 2021
The Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk and beach is closed March 21 just a week after the state of emergency was declared. Beaches don’t reopen until May 22.
Rehoboth Beach police are on duty on the Boardwalk to enforce its closure starting March 21, 2020.
As beaches begin to close, state officials follow suit and close access at Cape Henlopen State Park on April 15, except to exercising, dog walking and a limited number of drive-on surf vehicles. State park campgrounds, playgrounds and other facilities closed March 24, 2020.
Delaware beaches, including Lewes, Rehoboth and Dewey, are closed except for dog walking and exercising from March 21 to May 22, 2020.
Matt Schaeffer, a high-end fabricator at Sound FX in Lewes, leads the company’s effort starting in March, 2020, to make protective face shields for local healthcare workers. The pandemic triggers a wave of mask and shield making by companies and individuals.
Sussex County closes its governmental offices March 29, 2020, with limited access to drop off and pick up paperwork.
Wearing protective gear, Beebe Healthcare nurses are on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic as positive cases and hospitalizations rise during the spring and summer of 2020.
Under the state of emergency, starting March 29, 2020, out-of-state residents coming to the area are required to quarantine for 14 days. The order is lifted June 1 as Phase 1 of the state’s reopening plan begins.
Like all other personal-service businesses, Bad Hair Day Salon owner Drexel Davison had to close his salon until June 8, 2020. Most businesses were limited to 30 percent occupancy even when they could reopen in June.
Masks are ordered to be worn in Delaware starting April 28, 2020, in public settings when social distancing is not possible. The mandate is updated Dec. 14 to include indoor settings when residents are with anyone other than household members.
Beebe Healthcare President and CEO David Tam thanks a long line of first-responders gathered to pay tribute April 9, 2020, to Beebe staff.
Jojo Blondin and Sean and Meesh Rhodes of Milton spread of message of hope through handmade signs that start appearing all over the area in April and May, 2020.
In the spring and summer of 2020, nearly every grocery store in the area has shortages of staple items such as toilet paper and cleaning products. Stores quickly enact limits on many items.
Many Cape Region playgrounds, which closed in mid-March, 2020, are still not open.
Business comes to near halt when non-essential businesses are ordered to close March 24, including nearly all beach-town shops. Patrons are allowed to shop by appointment only starting May 15 and then stores reopen June 1, 2020, at 30 percent occupancy.
With beaches closed for the spring in 2020, on nice days people find their own way to get out and enjoy the sun at Lewes Beach.
Rehoboth Beach public works crews put up barricades May 29, 2020, to allow more space for social distancing on Rehoboth Avenue and provide space for outdoor dining.
When the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk reopens May 15, 2020, crowds quickly return. Rehoboth officials, as with most other municipal leaders, enact mandatory face coverings throughout the city.
Restaurants have been on a roller coaster of restrictions over the past year. On March 16, 2020, indoor seating is prohibited with carryout and takeout only. With seating and occupancy limitations, restaurants reopen their doors June 1, 2020.
With ever-changing limits on occupancy, local restaurants struggle to find ways to serve as many customers as possible. Throughout the summer and fall of 2020, outdoor dining becomes commonplace.
With schools closing the last two months of the 2020 school year, teachers and staff in the Cape Henlopen School District get creative to honor their fifth graders moving on to middle school. At Love Creek Elementary, on June 21, 2020, staff members gather outside the school during a drive-thru celebration.
Like all other personal-service businesses, Bad Hair Day Salon owner Drexel Davison had to close his salon until June 8, 2020. Most businesses were limited to 30 percent occupancy even when they could reopen in June.
Cape Henlopen High School graduation is a combination of a virtual and drive-thru event June 9 at Hudson Fields.
Volunteers join forces June 6, 2020, to pack and distribute 300 USDA food boxes to Sussex County senior citizens.
Masks are required on beach in Rehoboth starting July 1, 2020.
Throughout the summer of 2020, barricades are in place on Rehoboth Avenue.
Hundreds attend a COVID-19 testing event June 29, 2020, at The Starboard in Dewey Beach.
The July 4th holiday weekend of 2020 is unlike any other in memory in Rehoboth Beach with small crowds and limited business openings.
On July 8, 2020, U.S. Rep. Tom Carper visits Vincent Farms near Laurel as workers pack USDA food boxes for distribution to food banks. The program helps farmers supplement losses due to falling sales to the restaurant industry.
Funland, on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, reopens for business, with limited capacity, on July 10, 2020.
With a modified packing schedule to reduce numbers of volunteers, Mountaire Farms still had its annual Thanksgiving for Thousands food program at its Selbyville plant Nov. 19 and 20, 2020. In all, 10,000 food boxes were delivered to those in need.
Although many events are canceled in 2020, the Delaware State Fair goes on as scheduled but without its traditional concerts.
More than 150 volunteers staff a Delaware Food Bank mass distribution site May 18 at Sussex Central High School. It’s one of many distributions held throughout the state in 2020.
Cape Henlopen School District students return to classrooms Sept. 16 and 17, 2020, under a hybrid system.
Beebe Healthcare in Lewes adapts to the pandemic and its surges in positive cases. For most the past year, most visitors have been restricted access to the hospital.
Drive-through COVID-19 testing sites, such as this one at Delaware Technical Community College, are scheduled throughout the state.
Even with a large surge in mail-in ballots, lines are long at polling places, such as Cape Henlopen High School, all day and into the night during the Nov. 3, 2020, general election.
Santa Claus arrives by boat in Lewes Nov. 27 in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
Leighton family members from Newark get creative by using a lift Dec. 23, 2020, to see their father and grandfather, Tom, in person for the first time since February. Under the state of emergency, family members are not permitted visitations to loved ones in nursing facilities.
State officials contract with Curative Inc. to expand COVID-19 testing. Pop-up test sites, such as this one at Mariner Middle School in Milton, are scheduled weekly throughout the state.
The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrive Dec. 14, 2020, in Delaware; the next day vaccinations begin.
On Dec. 16, 2020, Beebe Healthcare’s Dr. William Chasanov administers nurse Sintia Rodriguez a COVID-19 vaccine shot, the first shot in Sussex County.
The Moderna vaccine is better suited for large vaccination events when extreme-cold storage is not available.
Walt Jones of Lewes is among the nearly 3,000 people, mainly seniors 65 years of age and older, who waited in line Jan. 23 and 24, 2021, in the first mass COVID-19 vaccine event in Sussex County. The drive-thru event took place at the Georgetown Division of Motor Vehicles.
Federal and state agencies, including FEMA, join forces to host the largest vaccine clinic to date Feb. 21-26 at Dover International Speedway. Nearly 20,000 second doses of vaccine were administered during the event.
Gov. John Carney, shown at a Feb. 22 press conference, looks skyward hoping for emergency approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The first doses of the new vaccine arrived in Delaware March 2.
Sussex County officials are among the few governing bodies to meet in person. To accommodate larger crowds at public hearings, starting in January some meetings are taking place at Delaware Technical and Community College
With mandatory face coverings required in stores, some people have resorted to creative masks like this shopper heading into the Rehoboth Walmart.
Local restaurants have adapted and now offer carryout, curbside pickup and in-person dining. Some smaller restaurants and most fast food restaurants remain closed to sit-down dining because of occupancy restrictions.
Since April 25, 2020, Delaware has had a mandatory face-covering edict in place.
