Residents advise against dining with people outside the household
In its weekly report, the Delaware Division of Public Health reported a continuing surge in coronavirus cases. Public health officials now recommend that only people living in the same household dine together.
Health officials and Gov. John Carney are weighing options to reduce the spread of the virus. Options could include closing restaurants and bars early or reducing occupancy at establishments.
The number of new daily remained elevated with the seven-day average of 279.4, as of Thursday, Nov. 12. Delaware saw its largest single-day case total since May, with 465 new cases reported on Nov. 12.
The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for Covid-19 increased from 10.2 percent as of Nov. 5 to 12.8 percent as of Thursday, Nov. 12. The percentage of
DPH now publishes both positivity rates – persons tested and total tests conducted – on its COVID-19 data portal. As of Tuesday, Nov. 10, the seven-day average for the percentage of total positive tests was 4.8 percent, up from 3.9 percent as of Nov. 3. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to the percent of positive tests to account for the time delay between the test date and the date that the state receives the test result.
Also, 130 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, an increase of 16 from the total as of last Friday’s update. Twenty-two of the hospitalized persons is critically ill, down five from last week.
As case totals surge, the Division of Public Health recommends Delawareans:
- Only dine socially (at home and in restaurants) with those who live with you
- Don’t spend time socially with people outside your household.
- Don’t plan on holding holiday dinners with those outside your household – even family.
“What we can see in our data is that social gatherings, whether at a house party, casual dinner, or restaurant, where people take off their masks while they eat, drink and chat, are the primary situations in which COVID-19 is being spread,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “It is just not safe right now to socially eat, drink, casually hang out, or party with people outside of our household unless we are socially distanced and outside.”
A total of 734 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from Covid-19. The state reported 18 additional deaths since last week’s update, including seven due to a review of records.
The total number of individuals who have died from COVID-19 ranges from 21 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 378 were female, and 356 were male. A total of 365 individuals were from New Castle County, 122 were from Kent County, and 247 were from Sussex County.
