Dallas County Health and Human Services reported one death, and 458 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Sep. 17.  The total case count in Dallas County is 76,607 with 986 total deaths to date.

The total number of probable cases in Dallas County is 3,637, including 11 probable deaths from COVID-19.

The total new cases today include 316 from Texas Department of State Health Services in July (2), August (50) and September (264).

The city of Sachse reported five new COVID-positive cases. Case 270 is a 41-year-old woman in Collin County. The other four cases are in Dallas County and include (271) a 47-year-old woman, (272) a 65-year-old woman, (273) a 54-year-old man and (274) a 30-year-old man.

.The additional death being reported today in Dallas County was a man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 36 was 270. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 10.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 36 (week ending 9/5/2020).

The percentage of cases occurring in young adults aged 18 to 22 years has doubled since May, increasing to 15% over the past 2 weeks. A provisional total of 136 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 36, a decline from the previous week for this age group.

Of the cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds(66%) have been under 65 years of age, and over half reported having a chronic health condition. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

“Today we have 406 new COVID-19 cases and 52 old cases from the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system to report. In addition, we have one death to report of a person in their 60’s.

The Governor announced his decision to allow increasing capacity at businesses throughout the State. The important thing for the community to look at is not what is permissible but rather what is safe. This can be found on the color-coded chart at www.DallasCountyCOVID.org. Doctors say that it is best to only frequent indoor establishments where masks can be worn one hundred percent of the time, to choose patio or takeout dining over indoor dining at restaurants, and to frequent establishments where it’s possible to stay at least six feet away from other patrons.

With the Governor increasing capacities, it will be more difficult to find indoor experiences with at least six foot distancing and it will be up to patrons to find the right establishment and time of day to patronize them safely. The Public Health Committee still recommends that people avoid bars, even if they’ve found some way to open under a loophole, and to use outdoor workouts in lieu of gyms,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]