Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 31 deaths and 2,065 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 for Jan 22.  The county reported 1,975 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 215,443.

The county is also reporting a total of 28,283 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 woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. 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 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 Grand Prairie. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. He had been hospitalized 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 man in his 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 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 man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 60’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Garland. 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 expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 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 woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. She expired in an area hospital.  A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill 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 a long-term care facility in the City of Mesquite. He had been hospitalized 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 expired in the facility.

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 woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of University Park. She had been hospitalized 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.

A man in his 80’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in 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 a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. She 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 a long-term care facility in the City of Garland. She expired in the facility.

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

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

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

A man in his 90’s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. He was hospitalized 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 Dallas. She expired in the facility.

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

The city of Sachse has reported 1,703 COVID-19 cases through today. Of the 39 new cases, Dallas County cases include a 5,12, 18, 20, 24, 35, 38 and 58-year-old female and a 5, 15, 31, 32, 33, 42, 50, 51, 57, 72 and 94-year-old male. Collin County cases include a 17, 20, 24, 27, 42, 47, 50, 50 and 56 year old female and a 12, 17, 18, 27, 35, 38, 45, 53, 54, 62 and 94-year-old male.

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 1 was 2,612, which is a rate of 99.1 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 31.5% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 1 (week ending 1/9/21).

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 1,139 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Thursday, January 21. The number of emergency room visits for COVID 19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 500 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 2,065 new cases along with 31 deaths, which ties us for our second deadliest day since the pandemic began. Additionally, we have three more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, which is 70% morecontagious than the original strain of COVID-19. As I have said before, January and February will be our toughest months for the COVID-19 pandemic but the decisions we make today will determine our numbers within the next two weeks. Our numbers should begin to go down in March as we get the benefit from the first few people being vaccinated and continue on a downward trajectory each month thereafter if and only if all of us collectively continue to make the patriotic sacrifices to keep our community and our country strong by wearing our mask, washing our hands, avoiding crowds and forgoing get-togethers, until the tide turns in the battle against COVID-19 and doctors tell us that it is safe to loosen our personal protection habits. We can do this North Texas but it takes all of us working together.

In the last few weeks we’ve been able to vaccinate over 18,500 North Texans, almost all of them over the age of 75, at our Fair Park hub. That’s a success by any measure. Every day we get better and next week we’ll begin to see our first few appointments for people over 65 with certain high-risk conditions. With over 300,000 people on the list and more signing up every day, it will be awhile before everyone who wants and needs a vaccine can get one. Please know that we are working every day to get better at the delivery of this vaccine and are committed to an equitable distribution of this vaccine, taking it to the most vulnerable populations, so that we can prevent many hospitalizations and save as many lives as possible. I hope you all have a safe and peaceful weekend,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]