Delaware is two-tenths of a percent away from reaching the 70% percent benchmark set by the Biden-Harris administration.
As of tonight, 69.8% of the state’s over 18 population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccination dose.
When Delaware reaches the 70% figure, it joins more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia in reaching that milestone. The President has set a July 4th goal for reaching the 70% figure.
An article in Forbes stated that Delaware has reached 70%, with Gov. John Carney noting at the final Tuesday Covid-19 briefing that if you “round up” the 69.8%, the state hit the goal. Based on current vaccination rates, it would appear that Delaware will reach the goal on Thursday.
The nation as a whole is expected to fall a few percentage points short of that goal, with low vaccination rates in the Deep South, Wyoming, and as far north as West Virginia.
Delaware Emergency Management Director A.J. Schall noted that pharmacies now account for more than 70% of total vaccinations. In addition, the state is focusing on underserved populations, even going door to door in an education-vaccination effort in Wilmington.
The final briefing comes after about six dozen events over the past 15 months, with some evening town halls. At one point, briefings were being held twice weekly.
“We’re in good shape,” said state Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay, who reported no “hot spots” with an elevated number of Covid-19 cases.
The closely watched hospitalization figure in Delaware stands at 19, up from the recent pandemic low of 14 but a long way from the peak of 474 during the past winter.
Carney reported that most of the individuals in the hospital had not received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The percentage of positive tests has remained steady at 1%.
In urging residents to get vaccinated, Rattay said, “we don’t want to go backward” to the time when masks were required, and businesses faced restrictions.
Slightly less than half of Delaware’s population has been fully vaccinated.
