Kent County is experiencing a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases.
The pace of new COVID-19 cases has accelerated over the past few weeks. This week in Kent County, there have been more than 100 new COVID-19 cases reported daily. Thursday, 200 cases reported. Wednesday, 185. Tuesday, 116. Monday, 235.
“We don't know if we're at the peak? We don't know how much higher it’s going to get? But it’s certainly very concerning to us as you project what might happen going forward.”
Dr. Adam London is Director of the Kent County Health Department. Back in August and September, new cases ranged from 35 to 40 per day. Numbers the community and hospitals could handle. Troubling now is that while the number of new infections increase, the number of tests remains flat.
“An average of about 2,200 tests are conducted of Kent County residents every day and this has been the case consistently from mid-July onward," said London. "In recent weeks we've been seeing the percent of these tests that are coming back positive increase from less than 2% to almost 5%. Meanwhile, our local hospitals are seeing a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases that they've admitted for inpatient care. Our hospitals haven't seen numbers like this since the first wave arrived in May.”
Dr. London explains the majority of patients will survive but if hospitals become overwhelmed there will be fewer success stories. He’s asking residents to limit the spread of the coronavirus by frequently washing hands, wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings.