Delaware reported 665 new COVID-19 cases Friday, the highest daily total since January.
Even so, the number of new cases, when averaged over seven days, dropped slightly to 389 as of Thursday, down from 397 last week.
In its weekly COVID-19 update, the Delaware Division of Public Health said Friday that 252 people are hospitalized, up 19 from last week. Of those 38 are considered critical, up 10 from last week.
Of those, the state said, 87% of the new cases were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, as were 90% of hospitalizations and half of the week’s deaths.
The state said 1,900 Delawareans have died from COVID-19, with 12 added in the last week and half of those from a review of vital statistics.
At the same time, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 76.8% of Delawareans ages 18+ have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The state said that means 563,547 people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 505,790 Delawareans are fully vaccinated.
Delaware has seen 2,307 breakthrough cases of COVID-19, which represents five-tenths of 1%. Of those, 50 cases required vaccinations and people have died.
The state lab continues checking positive cases for genotypes. It said 93% of the variant samples this week were identified as the Delta strain.
Public Health said it is tracking the Mu variant, which has been in the news all week because officials are afraid it does not respond to vaccinations. To date, Delaware has detected 18 cases of the Mu variant.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience.
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