Our View: Delaware ends up in the quarantine penalty box

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Pfc. Kelly Buterbaugh, a combat medic with the Delaware Army National Guard, gives instructions to a motorist during a drive-thru coronavirus testing mission at the University of Delaware's Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus in Newark, Delaware, May 29, 2020. About 25 soldiers and airmen with the Delaware National Guard supported the saliva-based testing of roughly 400 people at the STAR Campus location. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Capt. Brendan Mackie)
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Good afternoon,

(Photo from National Guard)

It was a less than stellar week for Delaware.

In rapid succession, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and even Rhode Island ordered First State travelers to quarantine for two weeks.

The designations were bad news for Delaware’s tourism industry, which is struggling with news of a  Covid-19 outbreak at the beach.

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Philadelphia appeared to join the movement but backed off after the apparent realization that thousands of commuters would be affected.  New Jersey had already carved out an exemption for road warriors.

A bit later,  Pennsylvania issued a recommendation, not a requirement, calling for quarantining Delaware travelers. By the way, the Keystone State  has performed about half the tests per 100,000 residents as Delaware, the widely followed Johns Hopkins site reported 

A look at the numbers indicates that Delaware seems to be in fair shape when it comes to various measurements of Covid-19. In Delaware, hospitalizations have flattened out around 60 and the number of people in critical condition is down to a dozen.

Recent testing has shown a three percent rate of new cases, according to a post from the Delaware Divison of Health.

A strong  case can be made that the quarantine orders amount to overkill by other states.

One site I follow,  Covid Exit Strategy   placed Delaware in the red category, with Pennsylvania and Maryland in the yellow zone, and New Jersey coming in green. The exit site recently added another color to its palette since the bulk of  states reside in the red zone.

The new shade, colorfully described as “bruised red,” describes states that seem to be losing control over the virus – Arizona, Florida, Texas, California, etc. 

Yesterday, Florida reported an astounding one-day total of 15,000 new cases. That blows out Delaware’s total number of positive cases since mid-March by nearly 3,000.

Stepped up testing has something to do with the higher totals in the Sunshine State, but those tested are coming up positive at a figure that is at least double Delaware’s rate.

For now, Delaware remains stuck in Phase 2 and the quarantine penalty box.

The hope is that the state begins to see better numbers in the coming weeks and makes its exit – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.

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