Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 21 deaths and 1,920 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 for Jan 23.  The county reported 1,996 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 216,968.

The county is also reporting a total of 28,678 probable COVID cases.

Dallas County Health and Human Services is providing initial vaccinations to those most at risk of exposure to COVID-19. As of this morning, 18,859 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11. With the additional allotment from the State of Texas for Week 6, there are approximately 9,000 doses remaining for the week ahead.

The additional deaths reported include:

A man in his 40’s who was a resident of the City of Richardson. He was critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was found deceased in her home and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was found deceased in her home and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was 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 Wilmer. He was 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 was 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 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She was critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. She was 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 Garland. He had been hospitalized in an area hospital and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Farmers Branch. She was found deceased in her home and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Irving. She expired in the facility.

A man in his 80’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Garland. 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 hospitalized in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

A woman in her 90’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Mesquite. She had been hospitalized in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse has reported 1,703 COVID-19 cases through Friday. No additional cases have been reported today.

The first case of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 has been identified in a resident of Dallas County, who did not have recent travel outside of the US. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 2 was 1,814, which is a rate of 68.8 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 remains high, with 25.5% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 2 (week ending 1/16/21).

Over the past 30 days, there have been 7,284 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 678 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, with 1,842 of these cases reported during the last week of December. One COVID-19 outbreak in a school in December originated with spread among 11 staff members, with transmission to 10 students, and subsequent additional SARS-CoV-2 infections documented among at least 13 household members of these students and staff. One death and one hospitalization occurred from this outbreak.

There are currently 114 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. This year, a total of 3,453 residents and 1,982 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 717 have been hospitalized and 386 have died. About 22% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Twenty-eight 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 120 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. New cases are being reported as a daily aggregate, with more detailed summary reports updated Tuesday and Friday evenings are available at: https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus/daily-updates.php

Local health experts are using 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 1,212 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Friday, January 22. The number of emergency room visits for COVID 19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 542 for the same time-period, which represents around 22 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. UTSW modeling predicts hospitalization could reach 1,470 by February 2, with cases as high as 2,700/day by the same date. Their model also indicates an increase in ICU utilization, which would overwhelm capacity according to health officials.

“Today we report 1,920 new cases along with 11 deaths, making the death total fore this week 138 person. As we have said for weeks, January and February will be our darkest months.

Vaccination opportunities continue to expand throughout North Texas. With the additions of Garland, Baylor Scott and White, and Frisco this week and the city of Dallas starting next week, thousands more vaccines will reach our residents next week.

….we continue to focus on getting to vulnerable communities and the most vulnerable individuals in an equitable and fair way. With the new administration invoking the defense production act and making efforts to double production at Moderna and Pfizer, plus the pending decision in February on the approval of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, we continue to work to make sure we are ready to provid you many more vaccines per week. Please stay safe and have a peaceful weekend,”  said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]