Delaware back on regional quarantine list
Governor not happy with latest news
From The Cape Gazette
Delaware is back on quarantine lists for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut despite improving COVID-19 statistics.
Gov. John Carney was not happy with the states putting Delaware on the quarantine list a week after removing Delaware from a previous list.
“I’m mad as hell, frankly,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
A week ago those states put Delaware on a quarantine list because Delaware’s percentage of positive COVID-19 cases was above 5 percent and the 5-day average for cases was above 100. Those two metrics were used to put Delaware on the list even though the number of hospitalizations and critically ill patients had fallen to March levels.
After Carney spoke with the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut governors, Delaware was taken off the list, but is now back on it based solely on the average number of daily cases. Carney said Delaware’s average should be at 97, but remains above 100 because of the amount of testing conducted throughout the state. Delaware’s latest percent positive is 4.2 percent, better than other states in the region such as Pennsylvania which is not on the list. Carney said there were two days that set Delaware back, but it’s not enough to put Delaware back on the list. Carney said other states are using a trigger that automatically puts Delaware on the quarantine list, but their process should be more thoughtful.
“As I said to Gov. Murphy (NJ) and Gov. Cuomo (NY) last week we’re going to be on and off the list unless we stop testing, and we’re not going to stop testing,” he said. “We’re better today than we were when we were taken off the list.”