In its weekly coronavirus report, the iThe Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) offered details on a surge in coronavirus cases as well as the number of positive tests related to schools.
School and daycare related cases are nearing the 600 mark. Cases are roughly divided between students and staff.
On Thursday, November 19, Delaware saw its largest single-day case total since the pandemic began with 649 new cases.
A total of 30,816 positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported to DPH since March 11.
The number of new daily cases each day this week has remained elevated, with the seven-day average increasing to nearly 399 as of Thursday.
The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for Covid-19 increased from 12.9 percent as of Nov. 12 to 14.8 percent as of Nov. 19.
DPH now publishes both positivity rates – persons tested and total tests conducted – on its portal. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, the seven-day average for the percentage of total positive tests was 5.9 percent, up from 4.7 percent as of Nov. 10.
The percentage of positive tests takes into account people who have been tested more than once.
There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to the percent of positive tests to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date that DPH receives the test result.
Also, 170 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, an increase of 40 from the total as of last Friday’s update. Twenty-six of the hospitalized persons are critically ill, up to four from last week.
A total of 746 Delawareans have died due to complications from COVID-19. The state reported 12 additional deaths since last week’s update, including two due to a review of Vital Statistics records.
The total number of individuals who have died from COVID-19 ranges from 21 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 382 were female, and 364 were male. A total of 370 individuals were from New Castle County, 123 were from Kent County, and 253 were from Sussex County.
The Division of Public Health provides statewide aggregate data on the total number of COVID-19 positive cases among students and staff who were in-person at a school or child care facility while potentially infectious, reported to DPH since Sept. 1, 2020. To determine the start of the infectious period, or when others may have been exposed to someone infectious, the DPH looks 48 hours before the onset of symptoms or 48 hours before testing for those who had no symptoms. These data only indicate potential exposure to COVID-19 in these settings, not whether exposure actually occurred. Figures do not indicate that the infections were caused by being in the school setting.
The total number of Covid-19 positive students and staff statewide who were in-person at a school or child care facility while potentially infectious, reported to DPH between Sept. 1 and Nov. 18.**
|
|
Weekly Total, 11/12/20 – 11/18/20 |
Cumulative Total, 9/1/20 – 11/18/20 |
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Setting |
Staff Cases |
Students Cases |
Staff Cases |
Student Cases |
Child care facility |
17 |
21 |
69 |
66 |
Private K-12 |
* |
* |
44 |
103 |
Public K-12 |
42 |
45 |
183 |
131 |
*To protect personal health information, totals less than 10 are not shown. **Data is preliminary and subject to change.
