By Cris Barrish
COVID-19 cases have blown past previous highs in Delaware and hospitalizations are on the cusp of an all-time record, with the fallout from Christmas gatherings just starting to hit the state and New Year’s celebrations looming.
The trendlines, coupled with the emergence of the highly infectious omicron variant, signal difficult times over the next several weeks, said University of Delaware epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Horney.
“I think January is going to be a really hard month for people working in public health and health care because of the demands of testing,” she said.
“We’re just going to see a lot of cases over the next few weeks coming out of not only just omicron taking over from delta so much more quickly than I think people anticipated, but then also with the added factor of people traveling and gathering” over the holidays, said Horney.
The current severe spike has led residents to descend on testing centers in recent days, with many experiencing extended wait times to get their swabs. On Tuesday, the Division of Public Health said 13.7% of tests were positive during the seven-day period ending on Christmas, three days ago.
At noon Tuesday in downtown Wilmington, more than 100 people stood in line to get a nasal swab from a Curativ site in the 600 block of King Street.
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