DPH advises against holding social gatherings after increase in COVID cases – Delaware State News



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DOVER – The Delaware Division of Public Health issued more recommendations after the state recorded its second-highest number of new daily positive COVID-19 cases on Friday.

The Delaware Division of Public Health announced 465 new positive cases of the virus in Friday’s report, which reflects data from Thursday at 6 p.m. The only day since the pandemic started having more positive cases was the 10th. May, which had 488.

The DPH said it recommends that Delawareans take the following steps to prevent the spread of infection in the community:

• Dine in society (at home and in a restaurant) only with those who live with you

• Do not spend time socially with people outside your home

• Do not plan to organize holiday dinners with people outside your household – even with family

“What we can see in our data is that social gatherings, whether at a house party, a casual dinner or a restaurant, where people take off their masks while they eat, drink and chat, are the main situations COVID-19 is in, ”DPH director Dr Karyl Rattay said in a statement. “It’s just not safe at the moment to eat, drink, go out or party socially with people outside of our home, unless we are socially distant and on the outside.”

New Castle County broke its record for new positive cases with 310 in Friday’s report. The county had never posted a score above 300 until Friday.

Kent County and Sussex County have each reported their highest number of new cases since mid-July.

Kent County had 50 new positive cases – the highest since the 51 on July 11. Sussex County had 105 new cases, crossing the 100 mark for the first time since there were 121 new cases on July 12.

Sussex County has the highest positivity rates of the state’s three counties. It has a seven-day moving average of 7% for the percentage of positive tests – the only country above the seven-day moving average recommended by the World Health Organization of 5%.

Despite the larger number of cases, New Castle County’s seven-day moving average for the percentage of positive tests is less than 5% to 4.7%. Kent County has the best positive percentage rate with a seven-day moving average of 4.6%.

There is a two-day deadline for the submission of percent positive test data to account for the delay between the date of the test and the date DPH receives the test result. Therefore, all positive test rate percentages reflect the data for Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The DPH also announced two more COVID-19-related deaths on Friday, bringing Delaware’s total to 734.

According to the DPH, the two most recent deaths were residents of Sussex County and both had underlying health issues. They ranged from 76 to 83 years old.

One of the most recent deaths was a resident of a long-term care facility – the 423rd death from COVID-19 in a long-term care facility.

The DPH provided its weekly long-term care center update on Friday, saying there had been a total of 1,568 positive COVID-19 cases involving long-term care residents.

It is monitoring the following COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities:

• Kentmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Wilmington – 54 residents and 43 positive staff.

• Cadia Healthcare Silverside in Wilmington – 45 residents and 35 positive staff.

• Country Rest Home in Greenwood – 31 residents and 20 positive staff.

• Regency Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Wilmington – 73 residents and 35 positive staff.

• Lofland Park in Seaford – 19 residents and 10 positive employees.

• Newly added: Cadia Helthcare Capitol in Dover – 39 residents and 17 positive employees.

• Newly added: Delmar Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Delmar – 19 residents and 15 positive employees.

• Newly added: The Moorings in Lewes in Lewes – 14 residents and 12 positive staff.

• Newly added: Oak Bridge Terrace at Cokesbury Village in Hockessin – 13 residents and 11 positive employees.

The number of people in Delaware hospitals with COVID-19 has risen to 130, the highest score since 142 as of June 3.

Of the current hospitalizations, 61 are in New Castle County, 49 in Sussex County and 20 in Kent County.



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