State-Mandated Mitigation Measures Reduce COVID-19 Impacts, CDC Finds

State-mandated mitigation measures combined with public health interventions contributed to a significant reduction in COVID-19 incidence, hospitalizations, and mortality in Delaware from late April to June of 2020, according to a new report from CDC. The report examines mitigation measures such as stay-at-home orders and public mask mandates and interventions like case investigations with contact tracing.

CDC reports that in the weeks and months following Delaware’s first reported COVID-19 case on March 11, 2020, the state commenced investigation of all known cases, issued statewide stay-at-home orders and a public mask mandate, and began contact tracing efforts. COVID-19 incidence, hospitalization, and mortality rates initially increased after Delaware’s stay-at-home order was issued on March 24, peaking during the week of April 13. All three metrics then declined by 18 percent, 20 percent, and 13 percent, respectively, until the week of April 20, when rates began to increase slightly. Rates declined again during the week that the state’s mask mandate went into effect on April 28. From late April through June, incidence, hospitalization, and mortality rates fell dramatically. By June, COVID-19 incidence had declined by 82 percent, hospitalizations by 88 percent, and mortality rates by 100 percent. CDC notes that contact tracing began on May 12, joining existing public health interventions such as case investigations, the stay-at-home order, and the mask mandate.