Dallas County Reports 209 New Positive 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases

DALLAS, TX – Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) is providing initial vaccinations to those most at risk of exposure to COVID-19 and over 445,000  total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11. Vaccine operations for both first and second doses at Fair Park are open today through 8 pm.

The additional deaths being reported today include the following:

• A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Irving. She expired in the facility and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 90’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. She expired in a facility and had underlying high-risk health conditions.

Two additional cases of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variants and one SARS-CoV-2 B.1.526 variant have been newly confirmed in a resident of Dallas County. To date, a total of 61 cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7; six B.1.429 variants; two B.1.526 variants; one P.1 variant; and one P.2 variant have been identified in residents of Dallas County. Five have been hospitalized with 3 requiring intensive care unit admission, and one has died. Seven had history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas. One case of B.1.1.7 is a likely instance of reinfection with COVID-19, occurring over 6 months after an initial PCR-confirmed infection. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 16 was 207, which is a rate of 7.9 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals in week 16 (week ending 4/24/21), 9.5% of respiratory specimens tested positive SARS-CoV-2.

During the past 30 days, there were 1,064 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 390 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. There are currently 28 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,361 residents and 2,455 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 1,081 have been hospitalized and 769 have died. About 20% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Eleven outbreaks of COVID-19 in congregate-living facilities (e.g. homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days. A cumulative total of 593 residents and 220 staff members in congregate-living facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19. New cases are being reported as a daily aggregate, with more detailed summary reports updated Tuesday and Friday evenings, available at https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus/daily-updates.php.

Local health experts use hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ER visits as three of the key indicators as part of determining the COVID-19 Risk Level (color-coded risk) and corresponding guidelines for activities during our COVID-19 response. There were 187 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on May 4. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 404 for the same time-period, which represents around 14 percent of all emergency department visits in the county. Vaccination is the best way to prevent illness and hospitalization from COVID. Protect yourself and your loved ones by getting vaccinated as soon as possible. Updated UTSW forecasting reflects an increase within their model with hospitalizations between 160-230 and daily case counts of 260 by May 17th. If vaccination rates continue to increase, hospitalizations within the model remain low. With a slower pace of vaccination, the model shows growth in some scenarios. You can find additional information on risk-level monitoring data here.