Dallas County Health and Human Services reported two deaths and 589 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Oct 21. The county has reported 1,091 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 91,313.
The county is also reporting a total of 4,735 probable cases and 13 probable deaths.
The total new cases include 273 from Texas Department of State Health Services, all but one in October.
The additional two deaths being reported today include the following:
A man in his 70’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
A woman in her 90’s who was a resident of the City of Cedar Hill. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
The city of Sachse reported its 379th and 380th cases on Tuesday, both in Dallas County. One is a 17-year-old girl and the second is a 52-year-old woman.
The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 41 was 482, an increase from the previous daily average of 385 for CDC week 40. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 11.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 41.
A provisional total of 406 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 41 (week ending10/10/2020), which is over twice the number of children diagnosed in this age group four weeks earlier (9/12/20).
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. About 24% have been associated with long-term care facilities.
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 435 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Tuesday, October 20. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 411 for the 24-hour period ending on Tuesday, October 20, which represents around 16 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. Increasing hospitalizations continue to be a concern and show the severity of this virus. Individual behavior change is necessary to decrease the severity of this wave.
“Today’s numbers continue an increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases that we’re seeing in both confirmed (PCR) and probable (antigen) tests. We are seeing an increase in COVID-19 bed utilization at our hospitals and we are back to the highest numbers that we’ve seen since August in four of our hospital systems.
It is not a time to lose our resolve. Things will get better. We will get a vaccine but it’s imperative that we all wear our masks and avoid large crowds for now. We know what to do, we just need to do it and we need to do it now before we find ourselves in a terrible place for the holidays, winter and the beginning of spring. I know there’s a lot of COVID-19 fatigue setting in out there but now is not the time to relax your standards. Focus on what is safe as determined by the doctors and not what is legal,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
From Staff Reports • [email protected]
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