Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 10 deaths and 1,024 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 for Feb 6. The county reported 2,407 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 234,210.

The county reported 228 deaths this week, the deadliest week since the start of the pandemic and is also reporting a total of 32,125 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, 37,243 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 from the state for next week’s operations.

The additional deaths reported include:

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

A woman in her 90’s who was a resident of the City of Lancaster. She expired in hospice care and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse has reported 1,917 COVID-19 cases through Friday. Of the 23 cases reported in the last 48 hours, Dallas County included a 9, 14, 24, 34, 41, 65 and 72-year-old female and a 10, 15, 15, 26, 42, 45, 50, 57, 57 and 92-year-old male. Collin County residents include a 1, 11 and 61-year-old female and a 2, 5 and 52-year-old male.

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 4 was 1,362, which is a rate of 51.7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 24.7% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 2 (week ending 1/30/21).

During January, there were 9,231 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 755 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. 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 102 active long-term care facility outbreaks. Accumulative total of 3,979 residents and 2,242 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 858 have been hospitalized and 487 have died. About 22% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Seventeen 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 383 residents and 190 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 818 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Friday, February 5. The number of emergency room visits for COVID 19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 443 for the same time-period, which represents around 18 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.

Updated modeling from UTSW shows hospitalizations between 500-770 by February 16. County officials have indicated that until they see substantial decreases in case counts and overall better control of the pandemic, hospitals will continue providing substantial care to COVID patients.

“Today we have 1,024 new positive cases to report and 10 additional deaths. With the end of this week we have seen the average number of daily new cases go down from the prior week and the number of deaths rise making this the deadliest week thus far for the third week in a row. We have vaccinated 37,243 at Fair Park thus far. With tomorrow being the Super Bowl, it is import that for this year’s celebration we limit it to the people that we live with to avoid increase spread of COVID. We must use all the tools in the toolbox to have our best chance of controlling the spread and having our best hope of keeping ourselves and our community strong until the vaccine can be more widely dispersed and we can begin to reach herd immunity. Please register for the vaccine if you have not already. And regardless of your vaccine status, please wear your mask, avoid crowds, forgo get-togethers and maintain 6-feet distance. It’s up to all of us to make the small sacrifices to keep our country strong at this critical time in our community and our nation’s history.” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]