The weekly Covid-19 report from the Delaware Division of Public Health shows a continued downturn in new cases and hospitalizations.
Seventy-eight percent of hospitalizations involved people who were not vaccinated, with 54% of deaths coming from those not fully vaccinated.
The death rate figure among the fully vaccinated has led critics to falsely claim that doses are not effective, pointing to the death of Colin Powell from the virus despite being the former Secretary of State being fully vaccinated. Health care officials stressed that Powell was immunocompromised and battling cancer. Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto credited Covid-19 vaccine with saving his life. Cavuto suffers from serious health issues.
Highlights
- Total positive cases since March 11, 2020: 141,717
- The seven-day average of new positive cases: 333.4, a decrease from 389.4last week and 450 earlier in the fall.
- The seven-day average for the percentage of total positive tests: 7%, a decrease from 8% last week
- Hospitalizations: 173, a decrease of 34 from last week; Critically ill: 24, a decrease of six from last week
- Total COVID-19 deaths to date; 2,045
- Total COVID-19 deaths since last week: 24
COVID-19 vaccinations:
- Total number of doses administered in Delaware: 1,237,206
- Percentage of Delawareans 12+ who have received at least one dose (CDC data): 79.2%
- Percentage of Delawareans 18+ who received at least one dose (CDC data): 81%
- Delawareans who are fully vaccinated: 528,767
COVID-19 Case Vaccination Status Report:
The following report captures a weekly breakdown of vaccination status for cases, deaths, and hospitalizations for the time frame for Oct. 11 – Oct 17. The report highlights the percentage of cases and hospitalized individuals in Delaware who are unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.
| Weekly Overview (10/11 -10/17) |
|
| Unvaccinated Cases | |
| Total Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated Cases | 1898 |
| Total Cases | 2502 |
| Percent of Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated Cases | 76% |
| Hospitalizations | |
| Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated Hospitalized Cases | 98 |
| Total Hospitalized Cases | 125 |
| Percent of Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated Hospitalized Cases | 78% |
| Deaths | |
| Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated COVID-19 Deaths | 7 |
| Total COVID-19 Deaths | 13 |
| Percent of Unvaccinated / Partially Vaccinated COVID-19 Deaths | 54% |
Breakthrough Cases (cumulative since vaccinations began):
- Fully vaccinated Delawareans: 528,767
- Total breakthrough cases: 5,138 or 1% of vaccinated individuals
- Total breakthrough hospitalizations: 97
- Total breakthrough deaths: 73
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 occurred after vaccination.
Variants
In the past week, 359 test samples were sequenced through routine surveillance of test specimens. Of those test samples, 263 (73.3%) sequenced at the DPH Lab were positive for a variant strain, as were 24 additional specimens sequenced at an outside lab. Out of the 287 variant positive samples, all were identified as the Delta strain.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated the classifications of known COVID-19 variants. Currently, the Delta variant is the only variant being monitored by the CDC as a “variant of concern” and no other variants are currently classified as “variants of interest.”
Long-term care
As of 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, there have been a total of 2,914 positive COVID-19 cases involving long-term care residents, and 852 residents of Delaware long-term care facilities have died from complications related to Covid-19.
