Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 20 deaths and 1,407 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 for Jan 30.  Officials said the 183 deaths this week were the highest weekly count since the start of the pandemic. The county reported 2,179 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 226,452.

The county is also reporting a total of 30,448 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, 28,425 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11. DCHHS is expecting an allotment of 9,000 doses next week.

The additional deaths reported include:

A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. 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 Cedar Hill. He had been critically ill 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 and did not have 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 Farmers Branch. 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 woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. She had been hospitalized 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 Richardson. She had been 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 Duncanville. She 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 Desoto. She 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 Dallas. She 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 the City of Garland. He expired in hospice care 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 man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Farmers Branch. 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 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill 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 man in his 90’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Irving. He had been critically ill and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse has reported 1,822 COVID-19 cases through Friday.

Four cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 have been identified in residents 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 1,543, which is a rate of 58.5 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 25.7% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 2 (week ending 1/23/21).

Over the past 30 days, there have been 9,471 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 733 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. 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. Reports state that 420 children in Dallas County under the age of 18 have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic.

There are currently 113 active long-term care facility outbreaks. Accumulative total of 3,776 residents and 2,149 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 798 have been hospitalized and 436 have died. About 22% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Twenty 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. A cumulative total of 378 residents and 173 staff members in these types of facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

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 989 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Friday, January 29. The number of emergency room visits for COVID 19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 512 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 1,407 new COVID cases and 20 deaths. With 183 deaths, this ends our deadliest week of COVID thus far, and as we said last year, January and February will be our darkest months. But, if we make good choices to avoid crowds, forgo get-togethers, wear a mask, maintain distance and wash our hands frequently, as well as register in as many vaccination opportunities as possible, and for those who are eligible, to get vaccinated at their earliest opportunity, we will see better numbers in March and each proceeding month.

While we mourn for those who have been lost to COVID and send our thoughts and prayers to all those who are sick, we are seeing a dip in the number of new infections due to your good decisions and we must continue with that slight progress. It’s up to all of us to do everything we can to keep ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and our country a little bit stronger in these difficult times. Please make the small sacrifices of patriotism that patriotism requires, and together we will be beat COVID-19,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]