Western Sussex County. continues to be the focus of public health officials in Delaware.
While no coronavirus outbreaks have been reported, the county’s 10.2 percent rate of positive cases in a seven-day rolling average is well above the 6.9 percent in New Castle County and 6.2 in Kent County.
No outbreaks have been reported and cases have not been concentrated in one age segment of ethnic group, although more young people overall have been testing positive.
Sussex has been quicker to reopen schools, with Woodbridge High School in Bridgeville closing for a couple of weeks after several tested positive. Sussex Tech has also reported cases.
The county did see April saw an outbreak among Hispanic and Haitian poultry workers and their families followed by outbreaks at the beach that seemed to stem from Senior Week in May.
State Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay said at the weekly Covid-19 press event on Tuesday that areas being watched include Bridgeville, Seaford, and Laurel.
She also noted the state has seen a growing percentage of positive cases in the Bethany Beach-Fenwick Island coastal area, although the overall numbers are low in an area with fewer year-round residents.
Hospitalizations for Covid-19 complications in Sussex have been rising, although an adequate number of beds are available. The worry is that bed capacity could be stretched if the state is dealing with Covid-19 and a flu outbreak this winter.
Rattay said the number of cases has been flattening out in New Castle County, although the Elsmere-Stanton-Newport area has seen an uptick.
A spike in cases in the Newark area has flattened out with fewer University of Delaware students testing positive.
Contact tracing efforts continue to indicate that smaller get-togethers where people “let down their guard” contribute to the moderate rise in positive tests.
The state is ramping up testing efforts and is reaching its goal of 20,000 tests a week, according to Delaware Emergency Management Director A.J. Schall.
One new tool comes in the form of two trailers that can be quickly deployed in smaller spaces for use in pop up testing when a rising number of cases is detected in a particular area, Schall said.
The number of fixed testing sites has also been expanded and home tests are now being offered.
For more data, including breakdowns by age, sex, race/ethnicity, at the statewide, county, and, in some cases, ZIP code or census tract level: https://myhealthycommunity.dhss.delaware.gov/locations/state
