Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 15 deaths and 152 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Apr 16. The county has reported 3,783 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 254,822.

The county is also reporting a total of 40,429 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, 368,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11.

Vaccine operations for both first and second doses at Fair Park will continue through Saturday.

The additional deaths reported include:

A woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Balch Springs. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 60’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 60’s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. He was found deceased at home 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 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 Desoto. He expired in hospice care 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 Garland. She had been hospitalized 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 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 80’s who was a resident of the City of Desoto. He expired in hospice care 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 Richardson. She expired in the facility 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 and had underlying high risk health conditions.

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

The city of Sachse is only reporting active and recovered/removed cases according to city officials. According to the city’s website, as its staff receives information from the city’s health authority, updates will be provided. The last update was Apr 9 and shows 41 active cases in the city, 26 in Dallas County and 15 in Collin County.

One death reported today was of a person who received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine but was a solid organ transplant patient. To date, a total of 57 cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7; six cases of B.1.429 variants; and one case of a B.1.526 variant have been identified in residents of Dallas County. Four have been hospitalized with 2 requiring intensive care unit admission. Seven had history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas. One case of B.1.1.7 is a likely instance of reinfection with COVID-19, occurring over 6 months after an initial PCR-confirmed infection. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 13 was 202, which is a rate of 7.7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, and with 8.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 13 (week ending 4/3/21).

During the past 30 days, there were 1,118 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 353 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. Eighteen of the newly reported cases over the past week have been associated with youth sports.

There are currently 21 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,315 residents and 2,440 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 1,051 have been hospitalized and 733 have died. About 20% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. 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. A cumulative total of 498 residents and 215 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 198 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on April 15. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 425 for the same time-period, which represents around 15 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. Please continue to do your part to reduce spread. Masking, social distancing and avoiding gatherings, as well as getting your vaccination. Removal of some restrictions by the CDC is still very limited for those who are vaccinated, and medium and large gatherings especially indoors should still be avoided by all individuals regardless of vaccination status. Updated UTSW forecasting reflects a decrease within their model with hospitalizations between 130-170 and daily case counts of 250 by May 3rd.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]