Rising COVID-19 cases in Delaware County means all of the county hospitals are now at capacity, writes Kathleeen E. Carey for the Daily Times.

“Our community, especially our hospitals and emergency departments are overwhelmed by the impact, not just from COVID patients but those needing care for medical emergencies and accidents,” Delaware County Medical Advisor Dr. Lisa O’Mahony said Wednesday.

The county Medical Reserve Corps is assisting with the rising cases.

Wearing face masks is critical right now as a highly effective way to prevent transmission, O’Mahoney said.

Delaware County has higher levels of COVID-19 indicators than bordering counties and the rest of Pennsylvania.

Its incident rate per 100,000 stands at 885 and has doubled in the past seven days.

The county’s PCR testing positivity rate has also doubled in the last week, to 28.8 percent.

Emergency department visits due to COVID are at 4.3 percent, higher than surrounding counties. 

A new drive-through COVID testing site at Mercy-Fitzgerald Hospital started this week.

Testing is available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Here is a full list of County-sponsored and non-County sponsored COVID-19 testing sites.

Read more at the Daily Times about the county reaching hospital capacity from the outbreak.