Dallas County Reports 1,675 New Coronavirus Cases, Two COVID-19 Deaths

Dallas County on Saturday reported 1,675 additional cases of the coronavirus, all of which are considered new. Two new deaths from COVID-19 have also been reported.

The latest victims were two Dallas men in their 60s who had been seriously ill in a hospital and had underlying health issues.

“The improving numbers, albeit early, indicate that residents are renewing their strength and engaging in shared sacrifice and patriotism to keep our community and country strong until the vaccine can be widely distributed and have its effect, ”Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement.

“We just need to keep up the pace and keep making these smart decisions. Next week, we’ll get an idea of ​​what the aftermath of Thanksgiving will be, and with the colder weather, we know COVID cases are likely to increase as more people are forced to stay in tight spaces around the world. inside.

Of the new cases reported on Saturday, 1,411 are confirmed and 264 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 132,890 and probable cases to 13,430. The county has recorded 1,232 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and 38 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, 764 patients with COVID-19 were in acute care at county hospitals. During the same period, 474 emergency room visits were for symptoms of the disease.

The county reported that since November 1, 5,320 school-aged children have tested positive for COVID-19. Thirteen schools have temporarily closed for in-person instruction this week, the county said.

More than two-thirds of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization so far are in people under the age of 65, and diabetes is an underlying condition in about one-third of all hospitalized patients, according to the county.

The county’s provisional seven-day average of new confirmed and probable cases for the last reporting period was 1,069. The figure is calculated based on the date of COVID-19 test collection, according to the county.

Dallas County does not provide positivity rates for all COVID-19 tests performed in the region; County health officials said they don’t have an accurate tally of how many tests are done each day. But as of the county’s latest reporting period, 22.3% 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 20.4% of these patients tested positive.

There are currently 97 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, including 927 cases in the past 30 days.

North Texas county judges and mayors received official notice from the state on Saturday of reduced business capacity due to high rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

On Thursday, the North Texas hospital region hit a threshold of seven consecutive days when 15% or more of available hospital beds were occupied by patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. Achieving this goal prompts restaurants to reduce capacity from 75% to 50% and bars to close under an order established by Governor Greg Abbott.

Dr John Hellerstedt, the state’s health commissioner, sent letters to North Texas County judges on Saturday officially informing them of the order and what it entails.

The letter was more of a formality, however, as local officials had known about the order since Thursday.

Starting Saturday, restaurants, retail stores, office buildings, manufacturing facilities, gyms and exercise facilities, museums and libraries in North Texas are to limit capacity to a maximum of 50%, Hellerstedt said in the letter.

Statewide data

Statewide, an additional 11,627 cases and 247 deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Saturday. Texas has now reported 1,240,750 confirmed cases and 22,502 deaths.

There are 8,916 patients with COVID-19 in Texas hospitals, including 2,454 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As of Saturday, 14.94% of hospital patients in the North Texas hospital region were COVID-19 patients. The region must have seven consecutive days below the 15% threshold for trade capacity declines to rise again, Abbott’s order.

The statewide seven-day average positivity rate, based on the date the test samples were collected, was 14.23% 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 14.26% on Friday.

Officials had previously calculated the coronavirus positivity rate in Texas by dividing the last seven days of new positive test results by the last seven days of total new test results. By this measure, the positivity rate is now 14.05%, according to the state’s scoreboard.

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 1,302 coronavirus cases and one new death on Saturday.

Information on the most recent victim was not available.

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 108,480, including 95,882 confirmed cases, 12,598 probable cases and 76,022 recoveries. The death toll stands at 872.

According to figures on Saturday’s county dashboard, 851 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 422 coronavirus cases to Collin County’s total on Saturday, bringing the total to 28,547. Five new deaths from COVID-19 have also been reported, bringing the county’s death toll to 277.

No details on the latest casualties were available.

According to state data, the county has 3,167 active cases of the virus and has recorded 25,380 recoveries.

The county’s coronavirus dashboard only provides the total number of hospitalizations, currently at 320.

Denton County

Denton County reported 389 cases of coronavirus – of which 267 are active – and no new deaths on Saturday.

The newly reported cases bring the county total to 26,034, with 6,882 active and 18,994 in recovery. The death toll stands at 158.

The newly reported cases brought the county’s total molecular case count to 21,903, while antigen cases stood at 4,131.

There are 127 COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the virus, according to county data.

Other counties

The Texas Department of State Health Services 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: 3,540 cases, 39 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 5,369 cases, 87 deaths.
• Ellis County: 7,905 cases, 127 deaths.
• Johnson County: 6,364 cases, 115 deaths.

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