Highest single-day total of new cases reported; hospitalizations continue to increase

DOVER – The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) is providing an update on the most recent statistics related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Delaware, as of 6 p.m. Thursday, November 19, 2020. Delaware saw its largest single-day case total since the pandemic began with 649 new cases reported on Thursday, Nov. 19.

A total of 30,816 positive cases of COVID-19 among Delaware residents have been reported to DPH since March 11, 2020, including 15,534 individuals who are considered recovered. The number of new daily cases each day this week has remained elevated with the seven-day average increasing to 398.9 as of Thursday, Nov. 19.

The seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 increased from 12.9% as of Nov. 12, to 14.8% as of Thursday, Nov. 19. DPH now publishes both positivity rates – persons tested and total tests conducted – on its COVID-19 data portal. As of Tuesday, Nov. 17, the seven-day average for the percentage of total tests that were positive was 5.9%, up from 4.7% as of Nov. 10. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to percent of tests that are positive to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date that DPH receives the test result.

In addition, 170 individuals are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Delaware, an increase of 40 from the total as of last Friday’s update. Twenty-six of the hospitalized persons are critically ill, up four from last week.

The Division of Public Health recommends Delawareans take the following actions to prevent further spread of infection in the community:

• Only dine socially (at home and in restaurants) with those who live with you
• Don’t spend time socially with people outside your household
• Don’t plan on holding holiday dinners with those outside your household – even family

DPH COVID-19 Holiday Guidance can be found at: https://coronavirus.delaware.gov/holiday-guidance/.

A total of 746 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from COVID-19. The state reported 12 additional deaths since last week’s update, including two as a result of a review of Vital Statistics records. The total number of individuals who have died from COVID-19 ranges in age from 21 to 104 years old. Of those who have died, 382 were female and 364 were male. A total of 370 individuals were from New Castle County, 123 were from Kent County, and 253 were from Sussex County.