Dallas County Health and Human Services reported two deaths and 1,581 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, this weekend,  Oct 23 & 24.  The county has reported 1,099 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 93,548.

The county is also reporting a total of 5,128 probable cases and 14 probable deaths.

The total new cases include 882 from Texas Department of State Health Services in October.

The additional two deaths being reported this weekend include the following:

A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the Balch Springs. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 70’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 city of Sachse has not updated their case count this weekend.

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 42 was 525, an increase from the previous daily average of 492 for CDC week 41. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 14.2% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 42.

A provisional total of 441 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 42 , an increase from the previous week.

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 450 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Thursday, October 22. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 462 for the 24-hour period ending on Thursday, October 22, which represents around 20 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. The next update will be available on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]