Gov. John Carney says Delaware will wait a little longer before moving to Phase 3 of its reopening plan.
States including North Carolina and Texas have made similar decisions this week.
Delaware started Phase 2 nearly two weeks ago on June 15th, and Carney says many expected Phase 3 to start Monday
But Carney said in a statement Thursday that Phase 3 is on hold. He plans to make a call on moving to Phase 3 early next week, but he first wants to “get a better handle on what’s going on in Delaware and around the country.”
Some other states are seeing a spike in cases. Delaware is not. Its five-day average of new positive cases remains relatively flat, hovering around the mid 50s.
But hospitalizations have gone up three of the last four days, and the five-day average for the percentage of people testing positive is now on a slightly upward trend. Ninety-three people are now hospitalized for the virus and the percent of people testing positive is above four.
Carney notes the state held a COVID-19 testing event in Rehoboth Beach Thursday and the results should offer a picture of the infection rates in Delaware’s coastal communities. He says that data—and how well people are complying with mask-wearing and social distancing—will inform his decision on when to move to Phase 3.
State officials announced 91 new virus cases Thursday – pushing Delaware’s total to 10,980 since March 11th. It also announced two additional deaths, lifting the death toll to 507.
