Weekly Covid dashboard: Virus claims life of child with medical challenges; death toll rises by 31

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Doctor examines a Covid-19 virus patient in the clean room with covid 19 and restricted area sign in front of the room
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 Delaware reporting the state’s first  Covid-19 related death of a child since the onset of the pandemic.

The child under the age of five from New Castle County had a  number of medical conditions.

“While each life lost as a result of this virus is tragic, the loss of a child is felt across our entire community,” said Delaware Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “We send our deepest condolences to this child’s family and all of those who have lost a loved one during this pandemic. We are urging everyone in our state to come together, take this current winter surge seriously, remain vigilant about mitigation measures, and keep each other safe.”

A total of 957 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from Covi-19. The state reported 31 additional deaths since last week’s update.

The total number of individuals who have died from Covid-19 ranges in age from younger than 5 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 487 were female and 470 were male. A total of 476 individuals were from New Castle County, 171 were from Kent County, and 310 were from Sussex County.

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A total of 63,503 positive cases of Covid-19 among Delaware residents have been reported since March 11, 2020. A record 1,241 new positive cases were reported on Wednesday this week, and the seven-day average increased to 778.6 as of Thursday, Jan. 7.

The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday, Jan. 7 was 27.percent,  an increase from 25.1 percent as of Thursday, Dec. 31.

 As of Tuesday, Jan. 5, the seven-day average for the percentage of total tests that were positive was 10.4 percent, an increase from 9.1% as of Tuesday, Dec. 29. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to the percentage of tests that are positive to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date that DPH receives the test result.

The percentage of total tests metric accounts for people who have been tested more than once.

A total of 451 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, an increase of 39 as of last Thursday. Fifty-nine of the hospitalized persons are critically ill, up one from last week.

Below is an interactive dashboard of Covid-19 cases in the state from the Division of Public Health. For more data, including breakdowns by age, sex, race/ethnicity, at the statewide, county, and, in some cases, zip code or census tract level, click here for the MyHealthyCommunity portal.

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