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For the first 21 months of the pandemic, 17% of Delaware’s residents were infected with COVID-19. So on average, roughly 1% of the population tested positive every five weeks.
In the most recent one-week period, however, nearly 2% of Delawareans tested positive.
That seven-day figure, which represents about 18,000 people, perhaps best dramatizes the fierce escalation that has occurred during this holiday season.
But there are other stats that are alarming health leaders. Although a lower percentage of cases during the rise of the omicron variant are leading to hospitalization, a record 602 Delawareans are now getting inpatient care – a significant jump from the previous peak of 474 last January. A total of 62 patients are currently in critical condition.
Each successive day’s release of data show cases, hospitalizations, and positivity rates (currently 26.9%) continuing to climb, and Division of Public Health director Dr. Karyl Rattay said Tuesday that she expects the figures to keep rising for several days.
Though hospitals and testing centers are jammed, there is one glimmer of good news: No one has died in the last week.