Dallas County Reports 2,163 Coronavirus Cases, Texas Reports 12,567

Dallas County added a record 2,183 coronavirus cases on Saturday, all considered new. It was the first time the county has reported more than 2,000 cases in a single day without a significant portion coming from previous months, and it continues the menacing trend of rapidly rising numbers of cases.

Nine new COVID-19 deaths were also reported on Saturday.

All of the latest victims lived in Dallas and had underlying health issues. They include a man in his forties, two women and a man in his fifties, a man in his sixties, two men and a woman in her sixties and a woman in her forties.

With Thanksgiving days only, the surge in numbers underscores the need for county residents to heed the advice of medical experts and limit attendance at vacation meetings, County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement.

“I know this is disappointing news for Thanksgiving, but we have so much to be thankful for,” Jenkins said. “We need to focus on what we are grateful for and protect it for the future and not give in to momentary weakness or selfishness that will lead to bad decisions.”

Of the new cases reported on Saturday, 1,741 are confirmed and 442 are probable. The total number of confirmed cases in the county now stands at 117,151 and the total number of probable cases at 11,173. The county has recorded 1,184 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and 26 probable deaths.

The county recently announced that it only counts positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases; some results on antibodies and “households” have been included previously.

While other counties in North Texas provide estimates of how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas County officials are not reporting recoveries, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use this metric.

Health officials are using hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and emergency room visits as key indicators to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended Friday, 738 patients with COVID-19 were in acute care at county hospitals. During the same period, 545 emergency room visits were for symptoms of the disease.

The county’s provisional seven-day average of daily confirmed and probable new cases for the last reporting period, Nov. 8 to 14, was 1,321 – a rate of 50.1 new cases per day per 100,000 population. This is the highest rate the county has experienced throughout the pandemic.

County officials said that during the same reporting period, 1,224 school-aged children tested positive for COVID-19. As of Nov. 1, a total of 2,851 positive cases have been diagnosed in students and staff at more than 558 Dallas County K-12 schools – along with 116 more cases in children attending county daycares.

The coronavirus is also on the rise again in long-term care facilities, putting elderly and immunocompromised residents who are most vulnerable to complications from COVID-19 at risk.

According to county data, as of Friday, 856 cases of the coronavirus – including 304 among staff – had been reported in 84 long-term care facilities in the previous 30 days. The number of facilities with active outbreaks – meaning a new case has been reported in the past 28 days, a county spokeswoman said – is the highest at both times since the start of the pandemic .

Of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the county, about 23% are associated with long-term care facilities.

Dallas County does not provide positivity rates for all COVID-19 tests performed in the region; County health officials said they did not have an accurate tally of how many tests were done each day. But as of the county’s latest reporting period, 16.8% of people who presented to hospitals with symptoms of COVID-19 have tested positive for the virus. This is an increase from the previous baseline period, where 15.3% of these patients were positive.

Jenkins pointed out that, as the county bases its report on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s schedule, the seven-day average, the total number of cases among school-aged children and the rate of positive respiratory samples are all late by at least seven days.

State-wide data

Statewide, a record 12,597 cases were announced on Saturday, as were 171 new deaths from COVID-19. Texas has now reported 1,085,524 confirmed cases and 20,467 deaths.

There are 8,245 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 2,321 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The seven-day average positivity rate in Texas, based on the date the samples were collected, was 11.8% on Friday. State health officials have said that using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate rate of positivity.

The condition also provides a positivity rate based on when the lab results were reported to the condition; this rate was 12.6% on Friday.

Officials previously calculated Texas’ coronavirus positivity rate by dividing the last seven days of new positive test results by the last seven days of total new test results. By that metric, the positivity rate is now 10%, according to the state’s scorecard.

A spokesperson for the Texas State Department health services said positivity rate data based on lab results and new cases will likely be eliminated, but are still provided for transparency and continuity. .

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 1,368 coronavirus cases and two new deaths on Saturday.

It was the fourth day in a row – and the eighth in the past 10 – that the county’s daily total surpassed 1,000 cases.

The county did not immediately release information on the latest victims.

The new cases reported bring the county’s total to 90,316, including 80,157 confirmed cases, 10,159 probable cases and 65,340 recoveries. The death toll stands at 824.

According to figures on Saturday’s county dashboard, 776 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 322 coronavirus cases to Collin County’s total on Saturday, bringing the total to 22,691. Four new deaths from COVID-19 have also been reported, bringing the death toll to 238.

No details on the latest casualties were available.

According to state data, the county has 2,318 active cases of the virus.

The county’s coronavirus dashboard only provides total hospitalizations, which stands at 272.

Denton County

Denton County reported 310 cases of the coronavirus – of which 186 are active – and no new deaths on Saturday.

The newly reported cases bring the county total to 21,453, with 4,617 active and 16,690 in recovery. The death toll stands at 146.

The newly reported cases brought the county’s total molecular case count to 18,382, while antigen cases stood at 3,071.

A record 125 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to county data. Of those patients, 41 are being treated in intensive care units – also most of the time during the pandemic.

Other counties

The Texas Department of State Health Services have resumed reporting for these other North Texas counties. In some countries, new data may not be communicated every day.

The latest numbers are:

• Rockwall County: 2,538 cases, 36 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 4,315 cases, 74 deaths.
• Ellis County: 6,107 cases, 106 deaths.
• Johnson County: 4,842 cases, 93 deaths.

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