In Delaware, the state fair started last week on July 23 and runs through Aug. 1. In Virginia, it was recently cancelled. It’s the latest in a long series of how different states are handling which businesses and events operate in the coronavirus era.
According to the latest available statistics from The New York Times, Delaware actually has a higher per capita case rate (1,430 per 100,000 compared to Virginia’s 952 per 100,000). Both were also quite similar in the “cases in last seven days” category with Delaware at 76 cases per 100,000 people and Virginia at 80 cases per 100,000 people. Of course, Virginia has a much larger population, so actual COVID-19 case and death counts are higher in the state.
The Delaware State Fair is requiring face masks, physical distancing and has many hand sanitizer stations around the fairgrounds. The State Fair of Virginia cancelled its event weeks ahead of time, rescheduling for Sept. 24-Oct. 3, 2021. Organizers deemed it too unsafe to hold this year. They said there was “no realistic financial model that stayed within Virginia’s Phase 3 guidelines that caps crowd size to 1,000 for fairs and events.”
