According to the Delaware Division of Public Health Sunday report, the state recorded three new deaths from Covid-19 complications over the weekend.
Two of the deaths came from a review of record and another was a Kent County resident in their 70s.
Before reporting the three deaths, Delaware had gone a week without any deaths from the virus. Only three persons are currently in critical condition from Covid complications.
Despite the low number of cases, concern is growing about younger people falling victim to faster spreading Covid-19 variants.
As of Thursday, the Division of Public Health has identified the following variants in Delaware through routine surveillance of test specimens. The variants are based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list of Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest.
Of growing concern is the Delta variant, which originated from India. Delaware has seen only 11 instances of the Delta variant but is expected to see many more.
| Variants of Concern | Variants of Interest | |||||
| Variant | Origin | # of Cases | Variant | Origin | # of Cases | |
| Alpha/B.1.1.7 | United Kingdom | 918 | Eta/B.1.525 | UK/Nigeria(formerly NEW York, US) | 2 | |
| Beta/B.1.351 | South Africa | 1 | Iota/B.1.526 | New York, US | 272 | |
| Epsilon/B.1.427 | California, US | 10 | B.1.526.1 | New York, US | 34 | |
| Epsilon/B.1.429 | California, US | 11 | ||||
| Gamma/P.1 | Brazil | 44 | ||||
| Delta/B.1.617.2 | India | 11 | ||||
In all, the cases include 1,069 adults ranging in age from 18-98 and 233 individuals under the age of 18.
A total of 981 individuals were from New Castle County, 173 were from Kent County, and 149 were from Sussex County.
The Delaware Public Health Laboratory has sequenced 3,127 specimens for COVID-19 variant strains to date, including 75 within the past week.
Vaccination significantly reduces the chance of developing Covid-19 or becoming seriously ill from it. To date, 423,804 Delawareans have been fully vaccinated. Of those, there have been 383 breakthrough cases of COVID-19, less than one-tenth of 1 percent.
A breakthrough case is defined as testing positive for Covid-19 after an individual has been fully vaccinated for two weeks or more – although it does not mean that the infection actually occurred after vaccination. Eighteen of the reported breakthrough cases involved hospitalizations, four individuals passed away, although it does not mean Covid was the cause of death.
