Carney extends state of emergency as Delaware moves toward Phase 2

976
Advertisement

Gov.  John Carney on Saturday  extended  the State of Emergency declaration. Under Delaware law, State of Emergency declarations must be renewed every 30 days.

Click here for  the governor’s extension.

“As more people interact with one another in Delaware and across the country, we need to remain vigilant and follow public health guidelines,” said  Carney. “It’s important to remember that COVID-19 is still active. Following social distancing and face-covering guidelines makes it possible to reopen our economy by helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We need to think about our neighbors who may be more vulnerable to this virus, and act with a sense of community.”

The extension is expected to run into opposition from Republican legislators who have demanded a full reopening of the state and claim the crisis is over and restrictions are killing small businesses. 

Legislation has been introduced in an effort to limit the ability of the governor to extend states of emergency. The bill may be largely symbolic since Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly as well as the governor’s office.

Advertisement

Phase 2 of the reopening order is slated to go into effect on June 15. It will allow, among other things, for restaurants to operate at 60 percent capacity.

The state has the seventh-highest incidence of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, according to Statistica.  Other states have seen their case rates fall faster. Last month, Delaware ranked 12th last month.

The state saw an outbreak of COVID-19 in the poultry worker community in Sussex  County that boosted Delaware’s numbers. To date, the number of serious cases have been below estimates, with the county have adequate hospital beds. 

A contributor to the higher number of cases is a sharp expansion in testing, which detects more people carrying the virus. At the same time, the key indicator of hospitalizations has dropped by half. 

(See dashboard below).

Advertisement
Advertisement