The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date in Delaware has risen to 165 Friday, up from 143 the previous day.
That includes 106 confirmed cases in New Castle County, 21 in Kent County and 38 in Sussex.
State Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker praised the statewide testing system, including hospital-run test centers launched Monday.
“We’re very fortunate to have a statewide testing approach with a partnership and collaboration across the hospitals in our state, and so far we’ve received several positives including 119 positives from those efforts," she said.
Walker added that more than two thousand negative test results have come in as well.
She says for the time being, Delaware seems to have enough tests.
“We don’t have unlimited supply of tests, but right now Delaware does believe that we’re in a good place to have enough tests for at least the next couple of weeks, maybe less if we go through them more quickly," she said. "That’s a number, again like the PPE [personal protective equipment], that we're monitoring on a daily basis and trying to make sure we have adequate swabs, and the chemicals need to do the tests. We’re also looking for new ways to do the tests. Many in the media have talked about other tests that may come available soo and we'll hopefully start to receive those in the next week or so.”
So far two Delaware residents have died from the virus. 20 are hospitalized, with nine in critical condition. Public health officials consider nine other people fully recovered from the virus.
One death was at a nursing home facility in Newark, where 6 other residents have also also tested positive for COVID-19.
This story has been updated.
