Dallas County Health and Human Services reported two deaths and 808 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, Nov 12.  The county also reported 1,140 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 105,788.

The county is also reporting a total of 9,238 probable cases and 19 probable deaths.

The additional two deaths reported today are:

A woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She had been critically ill in 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 did not have underlying high risk health conditions.

Today, the city of Sachse reported 14 new cases bringing the total COVID-19 cases to 519. Positive cases in Dallas County include 30, 55 and 67-year-old females and an 8 and 12-year-old boy(s) and 29, 36 and 44-year-old men. Residents in Collin County include 13-year-old girl and a 58 year old woman, as well as 46, 48, 50 and 58 year-old men.

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 44 has increased to 779 – a rate of 30.0 new cases daily per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased to 14.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 43 (week ending 10/31/20). A provisional total of 608 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 44 – almost twice the numbers of children diagnosed in this age group 4 weeks earlier (CDC week ending 10/3/2020).

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. Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 24% have been associated with long-term care facilities. New cases are being reported as a daily aggregate, with a more detailed summary report updated Tuesdays and Fridays.

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 597 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Wednesday, November 11. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 564 for the same time period, 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.

“Today we had 808 new COVID cases and two additional deaths. Over the last seven days, we have seen a daily average of 1,108 new COVID cases, a sharp increase from the last reported CDC week where we saw the average daily new COVID cases of 779. As our numbers grow, our hospitals are filling and our healthcare heroes are becoming stretched and exhausted. It’s important for people to remember that the healthcare safety net is more than beds, but includes people, and over the last nine months our people have been worked to new extremes.

In order to do our part to help our healthcare heroes and keep our community safe, I ask that all businesses move swiftly to complete telecommuting to the fullest extent possible. Please do not wait until after Thanksgiving to move to telecommuting but rather do so immediately. Also, we ask that everyone curtail your trips outside the home. This is the year to do your Black Friday shopping online only, to celebrate Thanksgiving with just your nuclear family, and to forgo invitations to friend’s homes or trips to restaurants, bars, and other crowded venues. Consider grocery delivery or curbside pickup, and if you choose to frequent a restaurant, choose delivery or curbside pickup during this spike in cases. 

According to UTSW, we are currently at 56% compliance with the safety protocols the CDC tells us can keep us safe. If we can reach 65% compliance, we can flatten out this spike. Reaching more success in complying with CDC guidelines not only can be reached by the people who are currently not taking the virus seriously changing their minds, but also by the people who are concerned about the virus’ effect on public health and the economy making small changes to improve or to lessen contacts for themselves, their families, their employees, and others. Every contact poses some risk and now is the time to shrink those contacts to the bare minimum until we can get this spike under control. 

I know we can do this North Texas. There is a lot of COVID fatigue and exhaustion out there in the general population. Remember, it is nothing compared to the fatigue that our healthcare heroes are feeling and if we will come together for just a little while longer, we can put this challenge behind us and come out stronger on the other side. But it will take broad community sacrifice and smart decision making from all of us for us to have our best response,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]