WILMINGTON, Del. (KYW Newsradio) — Like everywhere else in the Delaware Valley, Delaware has been seeing its highest COVID-19 numbers since early in the pandemic.
“Contemplating” is the word Gov. John Carney used when it comes to implementing more restrictions.
He’s asked Delaware’s Division of Public Health to keep an eye on what neighboring states are doing, like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, because he likes to keep things consistent when possible.
“We’re telling you this now because this is not what we want to do,” said DPH director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “We don’t want to be in a position where we have to put further restrictions in place.”
But she also doesn’t want to get to a point where businesses have to shut down again or schools have to eliminate in-person learning. So she went over some of the restrictions that are possible.
“Looking at reducing the number of people at both public and private gatherings is on the list,” she said. “A number of states are implementing curfews on certain days where we know more people are likely to gather. We may have to consider restrictions on sports activities or tournaments where there’s a lot of mixing, or further updates to mask requirements.”
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It’s the first thing Rattay mentioned, though, that seems to be the biggest concern in Delaware right now.
“We’ve been saying this for weeks about the informal social settings and gatherings which is where the virus is most insidious and gets out and affects people and is transmitted one from the other,” said Carney.
Carney stressed a dozen people getting together in a home without masks and not social distancing can be more dangerous than going to a structured environment like a bar or restaurant with significantly more people.
He wants people to keep that in mind with Thanksgiving so close.
“So we need everybody to wear a mask, to keep social distancing, to keep your gatherings small, within family limits,” Carney advised.
He said his family holiday gathering will be altered this year and suggests all Delawareans do the same. But Carney says they won’t be going door-to-door to check, as Delaware relies on “voluntary compliance.”
Delaware was seeing an average of 50 new coronavirus cases a day over the summer. The daily number is now closing in on 250.