December 19, 2020
The Delaware Division of Public Health reports hospitalizations continue to rise over the past week with a new high of 407 cases.
At the same time, the seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 decreased from 22.9 percent posted on Dec. 10 to 21.9 percent as of Dec. 17. As of Dec. 15, the seven-day average for the percentage of total tests that were positive was 9.7 percent – the same percentage reported Dec. 8. 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.
The number of hospitalized increased by 44 over the past week; the number of critically ill increased by 19 to a total of 68.
A total of 49,109 positive cases of COVID-19 among Delaware residents have been reported to DPH since March 11, 2020 The number of new daily cases each day this week has remained elevated with a seven-day average of 763.9 as of Thursday, Dec. 17.
A total of 854 Delawareans have passed away due to complications from COVID-19. The state reported 47 additional deaths since last week’s update, including eight 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, 433 were female and 421 were male. A total of 421 individuals were from New Castle County, 151 were from Kent County, and 282 were from Sussex County.
To protect personal health information, DPH will not confirm specific information about any individual case, even if other persons or entities disclose it independently.
The latest Delaware COVID-19 case statistics cumulatively since March 11, provided as of 6 p.m. Dec. 17, include:
- 49,109 total positive cases
- New Castle County cases: 28,235
- Kent County cases: 7,676
- Sussex County cases: 13,079
- Unknown County: 119
- Females: 26,129; Males: 22,902; Unknown Sex: 78
- Age range: 0 to 104
- Currently hospitalized: 407; Critically ill: 68 (This data represents individuals currently hospitalized in a Delaware hospital regardless of residence, and is not cumulative.)
- 428,997 negative cases
- 882,919 total tests administered as of Dec. 15