Dallas County Health and Human Services reported six deaths and 1,368 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, Nov 25.  The county reported 1,202 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 122,184.

The county is also reporting a total of 11,627 probable cases and 29 probable deaths.

The additional deaths today include:

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

A man in his 60’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.

A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City Coppell. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City Dallas. He had been hospitalized 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.

A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. He had been critically ill in an area hospital   and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse reported 12 new COVID-19 positive cases late yesterday, bringing their total to 677 positive cases. In Dallas County these include a 48, 48 and 57-year-old female and 8-year-old boy. Collin County positive cases include a 35, 41, 53 and 72-year-old females and 16, 27, 41 and 46-year-old males

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 46 has increased to 1,405, which is a rate of 53.3 daily new cases per 100,000 residents—the highest case rate in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased, with 17.0% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 46 (week ending 11/14/20).

A provisional total of 1,282 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 46, a three-fold increase from 5 weeks earlier (week ending 10/10/20). Since November 1, there have been 3,630 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from over 632 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, including 393 staff members. A total of 1,282 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 46 — which is 50% more than the number of cases in this age group reported during the second highest peak week of cases in July (Week 28). Since November 1, there have been over 130 COVID-19 cases in children and staff reported from 97 separate daycares in Dallas County.

Over the past 30 days, there have been over 818 COVID-19 cases reported from 90 separate long-term care facilities, including 309 staff members. This is the highest number of long-term care facilities with active outbreaks reported in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these cases, 48 have been hospitalized and 29 have died, including 2 deaths of staff members. Twenty active clusters of cases in congregate-living facilities (homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days associated with 167 cases, including one facility this past week with 81 confirmed 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 23% 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.

Due to the observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, Dallas County will not be releasing COVID-19 data on Thursday, November 26 or Friday, November 27. Reporting will resume Saturday, November 28.

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 764 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Tuesday, November 24. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 508 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 report 1,368 cases, 1,185 from PCR tests and another 183 cases from the antigen/rapid test. We are also reporting six deaths today. For the latest CDC week, our average daily new COVID cases has risen to 1,405, and asymptomatic COVID-19 testing performed at Parkland, for example on patients undergoing routine procedures, surgery, or for labor and delivery, averaged over the last seven days is 12 percent. This positivity rate is more than double the 5 percent rate that we have recently seen for COVID-19 positive asymptomatic individuals. If it is correct, it means that a gathering of 10 people statistically would have at least one person that is an asymptomatic COVID-19 positive spreader in that gathering. Even using the 5 percent positivity rate, there would be one COVID-19 positive spreader for every 20 persons.  

This is why it’s so important to avoid crowds, including shopping crowds. Utilize online and curbside pickup for groceries and other items and avoid get-togethers in the home. I know this Thanksgiving is different but it can still be special. I hope everyone will take the time to think of the things that they are thankful for, list those things, and I suspect we’ll all find that each of us have people that we’re thankful for. I hope that we take the time in this Thanksgiving season to thank those people. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve all of you and I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]