New Castle County

Case counts and test data by date of report can vary significantly from day to day for a variety of reasons. In addition to changes due to actual changes in disease incidence, trends are strongly influenced by testing patterns (who gets tested and why), testing availability, lab analysis backlogs, lab reporting delays, new labs joining our electronic laboratory reporting system, mass screenings, etc.

Current Hospitalizations (New Castle County)

Trend Line

Percent of persons testing positive, and percent of tests that are positive are helpful indicators in understanding the spread of infection in a community. Percent of persons testing positive indicate one result reported for each individual tested (positive or negative), even if that person is tested more than once with the same result. As a result, it often reflects higher positivity rates.

Percent of tests that are positive indicates the total number of specimens tested, including when an individual is tested more than once, and reflects higher reported test numbers and lower positivity rates. It is also more widely used by other states and the Federal government, and is therefore useful to compare Delaware to other jurisdictions.

Because of the increasing frequency of repeat testing, using person-based percent positives could be misleading on a daily basis. Therefore, using the percent of tests that are positive is a more useful measure to make operational decisions. Data for percent of tests that are positive are based on the testing date, while data for persons testing positive is based on the date results are reported to DPH. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to percent of tests that are positive to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date that DPH receives the test result.

Percent of persons testing positive Percent of tests that are positive

Average

Percent Positive

Trend Line

Average

Percent Positive

Trend Line

Average

New Positive Cases

Trend Line

Average

Tests Performed

Trend Line

State of Delaware

New Castle County

This section has been updated to provide a weekly snapshot measuring the level of COVID-19 community spread in the State of Delaware. The School Reopening dashboard has been replaced with a weekly community spread summary. The previous School Reopening dashboard was based on the State’s understanding of COVID-19 at the time it was developed, in August 2020. We have learned a lot since the summer months and no longer believe that the reopening dashboard was an accurate reflection of the conditions in our schools. The Division of Public Health (DPH) will continue to work closely with school leaders to monitor conditions. A new dashboard reflecting data about in-person attendance and cases among students and staff in schools - including district level data - has been added to the My Healthy Community COVID-19 data portal. It can be found here.

New cases rate

(per 100,000 people)

445.6

Percent of tests that are positive

(per 100,000 people)

8.5%

Avg. daily hospitalizations

(per 100,000 people)

43.7

Unlike other COVID data on My Healthy Community, historical data presented on the weekly community spread summary are not updated daily. These data are updated on Mondays. This is to allow for complete reporting of the week's test data.

Status by Week

	New cases rate (per 100,000 people)	Percent of tests that are positive	Avg. daily hospitalizations (per 100,000 people)
12/26/2020 - 01/01/2021	445.6	8.5	43.7
12/19/2020 - 12/25/2020	449.0	8.3	44.6
12/12/2020 - 12/18/2020	560.0	9.1	41.9
12/05/2020 - 12/11/2020	636.8	9.1	36.2
11/28/2020 - 12/04/2020	499.0	9.1	26.5
Show/hide additional weeks
11/21/2020 - 11/27/2020	380.1	5.9	20.0
11/14/2020 - 11/20/2020	345.1	5.4	15.5
11/07/2020 - 11/13/2020	243.0	5.5	11.0
10/31/2020 - 11/06/2020	141.4	4.2	9.2
10/24/2020 - 10/30/2020	106.7	3.1	7.4
10/17/2020 - 10/23/2020	89.8	2.8	9.4

Testing

How can I get tested?

Percent of persons testing positive, and percent of tests that are positive are helpful indicators in understanding the spread of infection in a community. Percent of persons testing positive indicate one result reported for each individual tested (positive or negative), even if that person is tested more than once with the same result. As a result, it often reflects higher positivity rates.

Percent of tests that are positive indicates the total number of specimens tested, including when an individual is tested more than once, and reflects higher reported test numbers and lower positivity rates. It is also more widely used by other states and the Federal government, and is therefore useful to compare Delaware to other jurisdictions.

Because of the increasing frequency of repeat testing, using person-based percent positives could be misleading on a daily basis. Therefore, using the percent of tests that are positive is a more useful measure to make operational decisions. Data for percent of tests that are positive are based on the testing date, while data for persons testing positive is based on the date results are reported to DPH. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to percent of tests that are positive to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date that DPH receives the test result.

Date Range:

Total Persons Tested Total Tests

New Castle County

305,818 55,089.1 per 100,000 people

Total Persons Tested in Comparable Location

State of Delaware

519,420

New Castle County

599,692 108,026.7 per 100,000 people

Total Tests in Comparable Location

State of Delaware

1,004,179

Total Persons Tested Total Tests

305,818

Total count on 01/05/2021

55,089.1

rate per 100,000 people on 01/05/2021

Total Persons Tested

599,692

Total count on 01/05/2021

108,026.7

rate per 100,000 people on 01/05/2021

Total Tests

271,177

Total count on 01/05/2021

4,884.9

rate per 10,000 people on 01/05/2021

Persons Tested Negative

Total Persons Tested by Race/Ethnicity

Total Persons Tested by Race/Ethnicity & County

Race/Ethnicity	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Non-Hispanic White	140,721	254,933	32,260	68,864
Non-Hispanic Black	61,466	94,533	15,787	11,500
Another/Multiple	30,226	48,731	4,742	9,976
Hispanic/Latino	27,249	42,570	3,830	9,761
Asian/Pacific Islander	10,128	12,444	1,106	858
Unknown	36,028	66,209	12,126	14,928

Rate of Persons Tested by Race/Ethnicity

Rate of Persons Tested by Race/Ethnicity & County

Race/Ethnicity	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Hispanic/Latino	5,039.5	4,931.9	3,144.5	4,864.9
Non-Hispanic Black	4,434.5	4,503.9	3,564.3	4,260.5
Non-Hispanic White	3,928.7	3,892.7	2,782.0	3,809.7
Asian/Pacific Islander	3,291.0	3,345.2	3,099.8	3,003.2

Cases (New Castle County)

New Positive Cases Total Positive Cases (Early Days of the Pandemic)

This animated map shows the rate of new cases of COVID-19 across Delaware as a 7 day average. We can see the period during the summer when the disease was less prevalent, and the areas of the State where people were hit hardest.

This animated map shows the cumulative rate of positive tests when COVID-19 began in Delaware in March and April 2020. The maps depict the arrival of this disease in Delaware, with some areas of the State experiencing much higher rates of infection.

Total Positive Cases

34,641 623.4 per 10,000 people

Confirmed

33,664

Probable

977

Positive Cases in Comparable Location

State of Delaware

60,333

0-4

5-17

18-34

35-49

50-64

65+

Rate of Cases by Age

Rate of Cases by Age & County

Age	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
0-4	283.3	268.9	206.5	285.4
5-17	422.6	403.5	296.8	449.9
18-34	835.6	862.0	673.2	1,154.8
35-49	746.6	794.7	711.6	1,011.9
50-64	602.7	630.3	624.5	692.1
65+	502.5	517.6	545.0	521.2

Rate of Cases by Sex

Rate of Cases by Sex & County

Sex	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Female	649.2	653.6	566.3	727.8
Male	595.7	614.3	545.1	710.3

Rate of Cases by Race/Ethnicity

Rate of Cases by Race/Ethnicity & County

Race/Ethnicity	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Hispanic/Latino	1,178.1	1,222.3	804.6	1,587.4
Non-Hispanic Black	649.7	671.7	628.6	848.0
Non-Hispanic White	405.4	423.4	407.3	467.4
Asian/Pacific Islander	273.3	317.5	557.7	486.5

0-4

5-17

18-34

35-49

50-64

65+

Total Cases by Age

Total Cases by Age & County

Age	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
0-4	922 (3%)	1,475 (2%)	227 (2%)	323 (2%)
5-17	3,746 (11%)	5,995 (10%)	879 (9%)	1,364 (9%)
18-34	11,165 (32%)	18,314 (30%)	2,798 (29%)	4,304 (27%)
35-49	7,900 (23%)	13,529 (22%)	2,200 (23%)	3,392 (21%)
50-64	6,815 (20%)	12,369 (21%)	2,078 (21%)	3,453 (22%)
65+	4,092 (12%)	8,650 (14%)	1,551 (16%)	2,983 (19%)
Unknown		1 (0%)

Total Cases by Sex

Total Cases by Sex & County

Sex	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Female	18,584 (54%)	32,020 (53%)	5,128 (53%)	8,232 (52%)
Male	16,017 (46%)	28,230 (47%)	4,594 (47%)	7,560 (48%)
Unknown	40 (0%)	83 (0%)	11 (0%)	27 (0%)

Total Cases by Race/Ethnicity

Total Cases by Race/Ethnicity & County

Race/Ethnicity	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Non-Hispanic White	14,521 (42%)	27,729 (46%)	4,723 (49%)	8,449 (53%)
Non-Hispanic Black	9,006 (26%)	14,098 (23%)	2,784 (29%)	2,289 (14%)
Hispanic/Latino	6,370 (18%)	10,550 (17%)	980 (10%)	3,185 (20%)
Another/Multiple	2,159 (6%)	3,623 (6%)	525 (5%)	912 (6%)
Asian/Pacific Islander	841 (2%)	1,181 (2%)	199 (2%)	139 (1%)
Unknown	1,744 (5%)	3,152 (5%)	522 (5%)	845 (5%)

Deaths (New Castle County)

The Division of Public Health has removed “Recoveries” from its statistical reporting on the COVID-19 data portal as this metric is no longer a true reflection of the number of persons that recovered from the disease. Cases considered recovered included only infected persons who reported to DPH that they had reached the end of their isolation period. It does not capture instances such as in long-term care and other congregate settings where patients are cleared by facility medical staff, not DPH. In addition, it does not include those who do not respond to, or complete, case investigation by contact tracers.

468

Total count on 01/05/2021

7.4

rate per 10,000 people on 01/05/2021

Deaths

Total Deaths by Age

Total Deaths by Age & County

Age	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
0-4	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
5-17	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
18-34		13 (1%)
35-49		21 (2%)
50-64	51 (11%)	122 (13%)	28 (17%)	43 (14%)
65+	403 (86%)	781 (83%)	136 (81%)	242 (80%)

Total Deaths by Sex

Total Deaths by Sex & County

Sex	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Female	240 (51%)	479 (51%)	87 (52%)	152 (50%)
Male	228 (49%)	458 (49%)	81 (48%)	149 (50%)

Total Deaths by Race/Ethnicity

Total Deaths by Race/Ethnicity & County

Race/Ethnicity	New Castle	State of Delaware	Kent	Sussex
Non-Hispanic White	307 (66%)	629 (67%)	106 (63%)	216 (72%)
Non-Hispanic Black	113 (24%)	223 (24%)	55 (33%)	55 (18%)
Another/Multiple		14 (1%)
Hispanic/Latino		63 (7%)
Asian/Pacific Islander		7 (1%)
Unknown		1 (0%)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data Dashboard