While Delawareans may be used to navigating the holiday season during a pandemic, this year may prove to be different.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Delaware and across the country, and the weeks after the holidays are likely to worsen those numbers.
Dr. Rick Hong, Interim Director of the Division of Public Health, says while they feel prepared for a post-holiday surge in cases, they do have some concerns.
“We have been following closely, particularly on hospital capacity. And working very closely with our hospital partners on bed capacity, and also staffing capacity, as well, including EMS providers,” said Hong. “We always expect a surge during the season so nothing is different, but we are concerned with the triple-demic including flu, COVID, and RSV.”
Both Delaware’s COVID cases and flu cases are updated on a weekly basis.
Last week, Delaware saw a total of 1,125 flu cases, bringing the season's total up to 5,609.
The number of positive COVID cases are on the rise, with the number of new positive cases reported to DPH at 203 as of December 14th. On the same day, the number of hospitalizations stood at 148.
Since the week of November 19th, the average percent of positive tests has risen from 6.6 to 9.4.
DPH advises those seeking to avoid infection to get tested before large gatherings, wear a mask, wash hands frequently, and get vaccinated against both the flu COVID.
Hong adds while masking may not be as common, those who choose to mask-up shouldn’t feel out of place for protecting themselves and others.
As for testing, after December 28th, Curative sites in Delaware will no longer be in service.
Curative currently has several pop-up and permanent locations in the state which often allow walk-in PCR testing without a prior appointment.
Hong says while the closure of these sites comes at a difficult time, they’re confident they can meet demand for testing.
“We still have our DPH clinics that are available for testing. We also have our pharmacies that are available for testing, and of course we also have our ambulatory offices, doctors offices, urgent care, and so forth, that also have the ability to test,” Hong explained. “So given the current demand, and even with the projection of possible demand, we feel that the capacity to test is available within those community sites.”
A list of other testing options, both permanent and pop-ups, can be found online at coronavirus.delaware.gov.
