DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware schools will remain closed because of the coronavirus for the rest of the academic year, Democratic Gov. John Carney said Friday.
Meanwhile, officials are focused on addressing spike of coronavirus cases in southern Delaware, particularly among the Hispanic and Haitian communities and workers at area poultry processing plants. Carney noted that the infection rate in Sussex County is almost three times the rate in northern Delaware’s New Castle County, which has a far larger population.
“We have a serious situation in Sussex County,” said Carney, who was unable say how many poultry industry workers have contracted COVID-19.
“I don’t have the exact number, but it’s very high,” he said.
State officials announced earlier this week that they partnering with local hospital systems, poultry industry employers and other agencies to establish community testing sites in Sussex County and increase outreach and education efforts in southern Delaware. Dense housing conditions, particularly in some minority communities, and a significant elderly and retiree population are among the factors that could be contributing to the spread of the virus.
“We want to help our neighbors across the state,” Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker said. “Right now, our attention has to be to support those in Sussex County.”
At the same time, Carney pointed out that the number of coronavirus cases and the number of hospitalizations in Delaware remain lower than initial projections.
As of Thursday evening, state officials reported slightly more than 3,440 cases of COVID-19 and 100 deaths. Although blacks accounted for the largest number of cases among any demographic group, roughly 970, or 28% of the total, they accounted for 24 of the 100 deaths, roughly matching their percentage of the overall population. Officials noted that race and ethnicity were unknown for roughly 25% of COVID-19 cases.
“The number of tests done for African-Americans is at a higher rate than their percentage in the population, which gives you a little bit of a confidence that maybe it’s not a testing access problem,” Carney said.
Meanwhile, the rate of infection per 10,000 people was highest among the Hispanic community, at 60% statewide and almost 171% in Sussex County.
Also Friday, two Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that purports to give the General Assembly, not the governor, authority to decide whether a state of emergency declared by the governor can continue for more than 30 days.
Two weeks ago, Carney formally extended a state-of-emergency declaration that he had issued March 12. Under state law, a state of emergency cannot continue for more than 30 days without being renewed by the governor.
The GOP bill requires the General Assembly to adopt and set the time period for continuing a state of emergency, but it also says that if the House speaker and Senate president agree that it is not reasonably possible for the General Assembly to meet and the governor believes a state of emergency needs to be extended, the governor can renew the state of emergency for additional 30-day periods without legislative approval.
Carney’s office had no immediate comment on the bill.
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