Delaware announced 192 additional cases of coronavirus on Friday, continuing the trend of relatively large daily increases compared to two weeks before the July 4 holiday.
Of those, 159 positive cases were reported Thursday, while 33 were from test results reported in previous days, state officials said Friday.
The state also reported two additional deaths from the virus on Friday, bringing the total death toll in Delaware from coronavirus complications to 512.
Delaware is seeing an increase in new cases compared to the rate of new cases two weeks ago. The state reported an average of 56 new cases a day starting at 18. That average has risen to 127 as of Thursday, according to state data.
The state reported 221 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily increase since May.
State health authorities consider the percentage of positive cases and the number of hospitalizations as important indicators of the spread of COVID-19. At a press conference this week, Dr. Karyl Rattay, director of the Division of Public Health, said that anything above 5% of positive cases is considered a “red flag.”
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As of Thursday, that figure was 6%, according to state data.
The state has reported 11,923 total cases as of Friday.
While the daily number of new cases is increasing, hospitalizations are decreasing, according to state figures.
The number of people battling the virus in hospital fell by 10 in figures reported on Friday. Currently 57 people are hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, 13 of those people are considered in critical condition, according to the state.
All of this comes before the festive weekend celebrations, one of the busiest for Delaware beach communities.
Since June 21, the state has seen a significant increase in cases in the Rehoboth-Dewey Beach ZIP code. Many of these cases are in youth and beach residents, depending on the state.
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Other states have closed their beaches before the weekend, but those in Delaware remain open. Governor John Carney ordered the bar service closed in East Sussex before the busy weekend.
Some tourist cities require masks within their borders and on their beaches.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or [email protected]. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
