Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 15 deaths and 302 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 26. The county has reported 3,469 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 251,403.

The county is also reporting a total of 39,393 probable COVID cases.

Dallas County Health and Human Services is providing initial vaccinations to those most at risk of exposure to COVID-19. Since starting vaccinations, 229,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11.  Operations at Fair Park will be closed Saturday and will reopen Sunday for first and second doses.

The additional deaths reported include:

A man in his 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased at home 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 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. He was found deceased at home 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 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was found deceased at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. 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 Mesquite. She 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 expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Duncanville. 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 Farmers Branch. He had been critically ill 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 Richardson. She expired at home 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 Sunnyvale. He expired in the facility 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 Dallas. He expired in hospice care and had underlying high risk health conditions.

The city of Sachse has reported 2,153 COVID-19 cases through, March 25. New Dallas County cases include a 53-year-old-female.

Five additional cases of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 have been identified in residents of Dallas County. To date, a total of 19 cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7; two cases of B.1.429 variants; and one case of a B.1.526 variant have been identified in residents of Dallas County. Two have been hospitalized and five had history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 10 was 266, which is a rate of 10.1 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 6.9% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 10 (week ending 3/13/21).

An outbreak of over 50 cases of COVID-19 has been reported this past week among high school students who attended a dance and dinner on March 13th. During the past 30 days, there were 1,351 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 415 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. There are currently 25 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,270 residents and 2,371 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 1,010 have been hospitalized and 671 have died. About 22% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Twelve 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 430 residents and 207 staff members in congregate-living 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.

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 207 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on March 25. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 349 for the same time-period, which represents around 13 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.

Updated UTSW forecasting reflects a leveling within their model with hospitalizations between 140-270 and daily case counts of 480 by April 8th.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]