Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 33 deaths and 1,348 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, Dec 9.  The county reported 1,275 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 138,233.

The county is also reporting a total of 14,055 probable cases and 42 probable deaths.

The additional deaths today include:

A man in his 20’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 30’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 woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Balch Springs. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 40’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 50’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 woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Duncanville. She expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

A woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She 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 Lancaster. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She 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 of Mesquite. 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 Lancaster. He 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.

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 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 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. 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 long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in the facility and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 70’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in the facility, He expired in the facility.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been hospitalized and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 80’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized 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.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Lancaster. She 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 long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in the facility and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 80’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 90’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in the facility, and did not have underlying high risk health conditions

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.

A man in his 90’s who was a resident of long term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in the facility and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 90’s who was a resident in the City of Hutchins. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 90’s who was a resident of the City of Cedar Hill. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse has reported 824 COVID-19 cases through yesterday, Dec. 8 for both Collin and Dallas County residents of the city. No update has been released for today as of this post.

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 48 has increased to 1,117, which is a rate of 42.4 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 22.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 48 (week ending 11/28/20).

Over the past 30 days there have been 4,520 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from over 735 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, including 681 staff members. Of these cases, 534 have been associated with extracurricular activities, including athletics.

There are currently 010 active long-term care facility outbreaks. This is the highest number of long-term care facilities with active outbreaks reported in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic. Over the past 30 days, a total of 857 COVID-19 cases have been reported from these facilities, including 328 staff members. Of these cases 38 have been hospitalized, and 30 have died, including 2 deaths of staff members. Twenty-four outbreaks of COVID-19 in congregate-living facilities (e.g. homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days associated with 155 cases, including 5 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. One facility has reported 87 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.

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 758 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Tuesday, December 8. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 576 for the same time period, which represents around 21 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.

On December 3, Trauma Service Area E (TSA E), which includes Dallas County and the greater Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, reached seven consecutive days where the percentage of COVID-19 confirmed patients in regional hospitals, as a percentage of available hospital beds, exceeded 15 percent. According to Governor Abbott’s Executive Order GA-32 (GA-32), this makes TSA E an area with high hospitalizations and certain occupancy reductions are automatically triggered by reaching this threshold.

“Today we report 1,348 new cases of COVID-19 and 33 deaths. This is the second highest number of deaths we’ve reported in one day from COVID-19 and a chilling reminder of the importance of making good choices at this time of extremely high community spread. The deaths we report today are a direct correlation to the high number of cases reported several weeks ago. The decisions that we make today will determine how many cases are confirmed in 7 to 14 days, how many hospitalizations we have three weeks from now, and how many deaths we report at this time next month.

Please focus not just on the people that you do know but on the people in the community and the country that you don’t know personally but that we all must work to protect until the vaccine can be widely distributed and have its effect. Take note of the new CDC and White House Task Force guidance to wear your mask one hundred percent of the time when in an office setting outside your home or in any other indoor location. Take advantage of periodic testing either at our free sites or through your insurance if you are exposed to crowds outside your home and avoid crowds and get-togethers to the fullest extent possible.

Now is the time for advance planning, thinking ahead of the gifts and supplies we’ll need for the holidays and ordering those for curbside pickup or online. Doing our grocery shopping with curbside pickup and other modest changes, can help us to limit our number of contacts. We will get through this North Texas and we’ll get through it together by supporting one another and making good choices, not just forourselves but for our entire community,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]