CDC Raises DE Covid-19 Community Levels to High Statewide
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised Delaware’s COVID-19 community levels to the High category (red) in all three counties on July 28, 2022.
As a result, the Division of Public Health (DPH) is asking Delawareans to follow the CDC’s key strategies at this level of community spread:
- Wear a well-fitting mask in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status.
- Stay home if you are sick and get tested if you have symptoms or were exposed to someone with COVID-19. Visit de.gov/gettested for testing locations.
- Get vaccinated and boosted when you are eligible to provide increased protection against severe illness and hospitalization.
- If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk for severe disease, self-test before being around them and wear a mask when indoors with them.
- Turn to reliable sources for information and treatment options including de.gov/coronavirus.
- If you are immuno-compromised or at high risk for severe disease, contact your health care provider to determine any additional precautions or treatments for which you may qualify.
Public Health officials say hospitalizations resulting from COVID-19 have risen 22% in the past week – from 129 to 165 hospitalizations, with 12 patients in critical condition – as of July 29. Of significant concern for DPH is the increase in the number of youth (under 18 years of age) who required hospital admission, including at least 16 children under age 5. Vaccines are now available for all persons starting at 6 months of age, and vaccination is highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalizations and death.
The CDC believes that the emergence of the dominant BA.5 variant in the United States has fueled the rapid rise in cases since June and suggests it spreads more easily than previous lineages of the virus. As of July 5, more than 60% of Delaware’s sequenced test results that were positive for a variant strain of the virus were positive for BA.5.
For more information about COVID-19, visit DPH at de.gov/coronavirus. For details about vaccines and boosters, visit de.gov/getmyvaccine for adults and de.gov/youthvaccinefor children 17 and under. Full Delaware COVID-19 data is available at https://myhealthycommunity.dhss.delaware.gov/locations/state. View materials that are available for download or ordering free at covidmaterialsde.com.
