The seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases increased slightly during the past week, according to the weekly report from the Delaware Division of Public Health.
While the average daily total has declined sharply from 700 during the winter, there are concerns here and elsewhere that cases have plateaued and might rise if faster spreading variants take hold.
The increase comes at a time when a spike in positive cases tied to the University of Delaware community subsides.
It has not yet been determined whether vaccinations are beginning to hold down the number of new cases. About 23 percent of the state’s population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
No outbreaks have been reported in zip code areas. The 19711 zip code in Newark, continues to have the highest number of cases per 10,000 population. The zip code area includes a portion of the University of Delaware community. Also seeing an elevated number of cases is the zip code that includes the New Castle and the Townsend-Middletown areas.
To date, the Division of Public Health has identified 15 confirmed cases of the British variant and one of the South African variant.Twelve individuals carrying the virus variants are from New Castle County and four are from Kent County.
A total of 91,635 positive cases of Covid-19 among Delaware residents have been reported since March 18, 2020.
The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, March 18, was 17.8 percent, an increase from 15.9 percent as of Thursday, March 11.
DPH publishes both positivity rates – persons tested and total tests conducted – on its Covid-19 data portal. As of Tuesday, March 16, the seven-day average for the percentage of total tests that were positive was 3.9 percent, a slight increase from 3.8 percent as of Tuesday, March 9. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to percent of tests that are positive to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date Public Health receives the test result.
A total of 110 individuals are currently hospitalized due to Covid-19 in Delaware, an increase of 27 as of this time last week. Nine of the hospitalized persons are critically ill, down five from last week.
A total of 1,522 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from COVID-19. The state reported 26 additional deaths since last week’s update. The total number of individuals who have died from Covid-19 complications ranges in age from younger than 5 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 761 were female and 761 were male. A total of 753 individuals were from New Castle County, 318 were from Kent County, and 451 were from Sussex County.
Click here for more data, including breakdowns by age, sex, race/ethnicity, at the statewide, county, and in some cases, zip code or census tract level.
