As the state, employers, and others launch a testing, education, and prevention effort in southern Delaware, Georgetown has emerged as an epicenter of coronavirus cases in Delaware.
Gov. John Carney announced the effort on Wednesday afternoon after advocacy groups warned of a crisis developing in an immigrant community that includes Latino and Haitian workers.
A map of cases shows Sussex’s county seat with 175 to 200 cases. That is similar to the more densely populated zone along the Delaware River that includes the New Castle area.
The outbreak is contributing to Sussex County coming close to matching New Castle County in the total number of COVID-19 cases.
Clusters of cases have also been seen in Millsboro and Milford. The areas have poultry processing plants that employ a large number of immigrants.
The area also has undocumented workers who hold jobs at employers that don’t question their status. The immigrant groups include native peoples from Central American countries who do not always have a good command of either English or Spanish and may require other outreach efforts.
Sussex has seen all three coronavirus-related deaths in the state involving people who apparently did not have pre-existing health conditions.
