Dallas County Health and Human Services reported four deaths and 656 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Oct 29.  The county has reported 1,108 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 95,402.

The county is also reporting a total of 5,649 probable cases and 14 probable deaths.

The total new cases include 274 from Texas Department of State Health Services, all in October.

The additional four deaths reported today are:

A man in his 40’s who was a resident of the City of Cedar Hill. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 80s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been admitted to an area hospital (not critically ill) and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 80’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 reported six more positive cases; a 22, 63 and 65 year-old man and a 42 year-old woman, all in Dallas County, as well as 23 and 73 year-old Collin County women. The city has recorded 414 positive cases.

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 42 was 588, the highest daily average since July. 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 493 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 42, about twice the number of children diagnosed in this age group 3 weeks earlier.

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 453 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Wednesday, October 28. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 440 for the 24-hour period ending on Wednesday, October 28, which represents about 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.

“Our number of new COVID-19 cases continues its trend upward and hospitals and medical modelers are telling us that if we don’t change our behavior, we will have numbers exceeding 1,000 cases per day going into Thanksgiving. It’s important that we find fun things to do this Halloween that don’t include trick-or treating or Halloween dances or parties. Consider family activities like pumpkin carving, candy hunts, movie nights, crafting and other activities to make this a meaningful and memorable holiday without increasing the spread of COVID.  We all know what we need to do, we just need to do it so that we can change the trajectory of where we are going to be this winter without an increase in compliance with masking, social distancing and avoiding crowds,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]