1,000 Delco Nursing Home Residents Have Coronavirus, 234 Dead

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Nursing homes in Delaware County now have 1,000 cases of the coronavirus, and death are nearing 250.

According to data provided by the Chester County Health Department, which is serving Delaware County's public health needs amid the coronavirus due to Delco's lack of its own health department, more than a quarter of all coronavirus cases in the county are long-term care facility and personal care home residents.

Long-term care facilities and personal care homes are licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health or Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Tuesday's updated figures show that 1,000 case count makes up 23 percent of the county's cases. Overall, Delaware County has 4,326 as of Tuesday. Upper Darby has the most cases with 721.

The county has 62 long-term care facilities and personal care homes. Among those 62, 42 have had coronavirus outbreaks. A facility or home with one positive case is considered to have an outbreak.

Additionally, 234 long-term care facility and personal care home residents in Delaware County have died as of Tuesday.

The county has a total of 320 deaths to date, with most occurring in Middletown Township which has 58 deaths.

Of the 234 deaths, 129 have been women and 105 have been men.

Women make up 600 of the 1000 cases, and men account for 400 cases.

Below are age demographics for long-term care facility and personal care home coronavirus cases:

• Less than 60 — 154 cases; 5 deaths
• 60 to ;69 — 152 cases; 26 deaths
• 70 to 79 — 204 cases; 44 deaths
• 80 to 89 — 276 cases; 82 deaths
• 90 to 99 — 191 cases; 69 deaths
• 100 and older — 23 cases; 8 deaths

"The tragic situation in many of our nursing homes is not unique to our county, as nursing homes throughout the region and country have also been hit hard due to the particular vulnerabilities of this population and the close proximity in which residents live," Delaware County said in a statement Monday.

County officials have asked Gov. Tom Wolf to measure progress using metrics that separate out new cases in nursing homes from new cases in the rest of the community.

"Looking at the two populations separately will help us take appropriate measures in both our nursing homes and in the broader community without confusing our understanding of the situation in either," the county said. "With higher levels of testing capacity, nursing homes would be able to test more widely and more frequently, and identify and separate those who show no symptoms but nevertheless are carrying and transmitting the virus to others."

During a daily briefing on the coronavirus, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday that separating cases of the virus in long-term care facilities from overall numbers doesn't make sense

"We have been asked this question before and we are not going to separate nursing home cases from other cases in counties," Levine said. "What we have certainly learned in this global pandemic of COVID-19 is that we are all interconnected. One section of our community, such as a nursing home or personal-care home, impacts the general community and the community impacts that facility. The staff go back and forth. So it really is an example of how we're all connected and it's very important to include those type of facilities."

Below is the percent of population with the virus, case counts, and death counts for each Delco municipality as of Tuesday:

• Aldan Borough — 1.13 percent of population; Cases: 47; Deaths: 1
• Aston Township — 0.47 percent of population; Cases: 79; Deaths: 1
• Bethel Township— 0.16 percent of population; Cases: 15; Deaths: 2
• Brookhaven Borough— 0.41 percent of population; Cases: 33; Deaths: 2
• Chadds Ford Township— 0.11 percent of population; Cases: 4; Deaths: 0
• Chester Heights Borough— 0.37 percent of population; Cases: 10; Deaths: 0
• Chester Township— 1.12 percent of population; Cases: 46; Deaths: 0
• City of Chester— 0.67 percent of population; Cases: 226; Deaths: 7
• Clifton Heights Borough— 0.61 percent of population; Cases: 41; Deaths: 2
• Collingdale Borough— 0.93 percent of population; Cases: 82; Deaths: 2
• Colwyn Borough— 1.65 percent of population; Cases: 42; Deaths: 0
• Concord Township— 0.57 percent of population; Cases: 100; Deaths: 6
• Darby Borough— 1.86 percent of population; Cases: 199; Deaths: 18
• Darby Township— 0.6 percent of population; Cases: 56; Deaths: 2
• East Lansdowne Borough— 1.16 percent of population; Cases: 31; Deaths: 2
• Eddystone Borough— 0.37 percent of population; Cases: 9; Deaths: 0
• Edgmont Township— 0.22 percent of population; Cases: 9; Deaths: 0
• Folcroft Borough— 0.89 percent of population; Cases: 59; Deaths: 1
• Glenolden Borough— 0.5 percent of population; Cases: 36; Deaths: 0
• Haverford Township— 0.5 percent of population; Cases: 246; Deaths: 30
• Lansdowne Borough— 0.95 percent of population; Cases: 101; Deaths: 6
• Location Unknown— 0 percent of population; Cases: 200; Deaths: 10
• Lower Chichester Township— 0.23 percent of population; Cases: 8; Deaths: 0
• Marcus Hook Borough— 0.5 percent of population; Cases: 12; Deaths: 0
• Marple Township— 0.92 percent of population; Cases: 217; Deaths: 48
• Media Borough— 1.78 percent of population; Cases: 95; Deaths: 8
• Middletown Township— 1.62 percent of population; Cases: 259; Deaths: 52
• Millbourne Borough— 0.95 percent of population; Cases: 11; Deaths: 0
• Morton Borough— 0.34 percent of population; Cases: 9; Deaths: 0
• Nether Providence Township— 1.35 percent of population; Cases: 186; Deaths: 29
• Newtown Township— 0.8 percent of population; Cases: 102; Deaths: 9
• Norwood Borough— 0.56 percent of population; Cases: 33; Deaths: 3
• Parkside Borough— 0.99 percent of population; Cases: 23; Deaths: 0
• Prospect Park Borough— 0.86 percent of population; Cases: 56; Deaths: 0
• Radnor Township— 0.32 percent of population; Cases: 100; Deaths: 8
• Ridley Park Borough— 0.47 percent of population; Cases: 33; Deaths: 1
• Ridley Township— 0.4 percent of population; Cases: 125; Deaths: 6
• Rose Valley Borough— 0 percent of population; Cases: 0; Deaths: 0
• Rutledge Borough— 0.13 percent of population; Cases: 1; Deaths: 0
• Sharon Hill Borough— 1.2 percent of population; Cases: 68; Deaths: 2
• Springfield Township— 0.43 percent of population; Cases: 104; Deaths: 6
• Swarthmore Borough— 0.33 percent of population; Cases: 21; Deaths: 0
• Thornbury Township— 0.26 percent of population; Cases: 20; Deaths: 2
• Tinicum Township— 0.46 percent of population; Cases: 19; Deaths: 0
• Trainer Borough— 0.6 percent of population; Cases: 11; Deaths: 1
• Upland Borough— 0.33 percent of population; Cases: 11; Deaths: 0
• Upper Chichester Township— 0.47 percent of population; Cases: 79; Deaths: 3
• Upper Darby Township— 0.87 percent of population; Cases: 721; Deaths: 16
• Upper Providence Township— 0.63 percent of population; Cases: 65; Deaths: 4
• Yeadon Borough— 2.32 percent of population; Cases: 266; Deaths: 30