The Delaware Division of Public Health reports hospitalizations continued to rise over the past week with a new high of 407 cases. At the same time, the seven-day average for the percentage of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 decreased from 22.9 percent posted on Dec. 10 to 21.9 percent as of Dec. 17. As of Dec. 15, the seven-day average for the percentage of total tests that were positive was 9.7 percent, the same figure reported Dec. 8. There is a two-day lag for presenting data related to percent of positive tests to account for the time delay between the test date and the date DPH receives the result.