Delaware County’s COVID-19 numbers continue to be lower than surrounding counties, according to a recently issued report.
Data shows the county had fewer hospitalizations from the infectious disease and a higher percentage of the eligible population vaccinated than its neighbors, said the COVID-19 Monthly Report for May 2022 from the Delaware Public Health District (DPHD).
Delaware had 0.47 people hospitalized from COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the month of April. In comparison, Union County had 1.59, Knox 3.19, Franklin 3.63, Marion 6.12, Licking 7.28 and Morrow 8.58.
As of May 2, 78% of eligible residents were fully vaccinated in Delaware County. This was followed by Franklin County with 68%, Union 65%, Licking 58%, Marion 51%, Knox 46% and Morrow 44%.
There were no deaths from COVID-19 for the month of April in Delaware, Morrow and Union counties, the data showed. The next fewest per 100,000 was Franklin County with 0.45, Marion 1.53, Knox 1.59 and Licking 2.8.
The DPHD said from April 2021 to April 2022, a total of 75 unvaccinated people (65%) in the county were hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 40 vaccinated people hospitalized (35%). There have been four unvaccinated people hospitalized since February, and one vaccinated person.
The DPHD said from April 2021 to April 2022, a total of 94 unvaccinated people (67%) in the county have died from COVID-19, and 46 vaccinated people (33%) have died. Since February, five vaccinated people have died, and three vaccinated people have died.
Since April, the rate of new cases of COVID-19 in the public schools has raised to around 250 per 100,000 each week. However, that amount was 1,000 per 100,000 staff and students during much of January.
Likewise, cases are recently on a slight uptick, but nothing like it was during the peak month of January.
The United States recently marked a grim milestone with more than a million deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. On May 12, American flags were ordered to be flown at half-staff.
That same day, global leaders from the U.S. and other nations met at the second Global COVID-19 Summit to make “major new policy and financial commitments to make vaccines available to those at highest risk, to expand access to tests and treatments, and to prevent future health crises,” the White House said.
The Biden Administration announced last week that each U.S. household is eligible for a total of 16 free at-home tests at COVIDTests.gov. More than 70 million households have ordered tests, with about 350 million delivered.
