Dallas County Health and Human Services reported two deaths and 3,001 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 this Saturday & Sunday, Nov 14 &15.  The county reported 1,142 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 109,022.

The county is also reporting a total of 9,862 probable cases and 20 probable deaths.

The additional deaths this weekend include:

A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital.

A man in his 90’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 did not release additional case information over the weekend.

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 45 has increased to 958 – a rate of 37.4 new cases daily per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased to 15.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 45 (week ending 11/7/20). A provisional total of 843 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 45, an increase of 37% from the previous week. During this past week, ten K-12 schools in Dallas County have initiated temporary closures of their campuses to in-person instruction due to COVID-19 cases.

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. New cases reported as a daily aggregate will be available on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins released the following statement:

“Today ends an explosive growth week in COVID infections with 1,543 new cases to report today and one death. For the week, we’ve reported the loss of 13 of our residents and we are averaging 1,131 cases per day for the week ending today. As I’ve mentioned before, Dallas County Health and Human Services does the most accurate report based on CDC weeks wherein we slot in each case with the day the test was taken. The downside to this report is that is does lag by at least seven days. That report shows that for CDC week 45 ending on November 7, 2020, we increased to 958 cases per day, which is a rate of 37.4 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) remains high, with 15.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 45. A provisional total of 843 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children during CDC week 45, an increase of 37% from the previous week.

Not including the week we reported a very large backlog in cases from the state’s reporting system, the numbers that we have seen this week are the highest weekly average that we have seen thus far for new COVID cases and today’s total is the highest single day total that we have seen thus far. What happens in the coming days as we approach Thanksgiving and the days after is dependent on each of you making good choices: telecommute to the fullest extent possible, stop visiting in one another’s homes and avoid crowds during this time of extreme spread.

It’s up to all of us to flatten the curve and I know that your patriotism and community concern will carry the day as we all work together to go back to doing the things that we did successfully in July and August when we got our numbers down. It is hard to fight through the clutter of COVID fatigue, but it is important that all of us do everything that we can to talk to the people in our sphere of influence and encourage our families, our employees, and our friends to join us in doing the things that the CDC and the local doctors tell us will turn this around. We can do this North Texas but we must do it together and we must do it immediately.”

From Staff Reports • [email protected]