Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 15 deaths and 517 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 for May 15-17. The county has reported 3,987 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 259,657.

The county is also reporting a total of 42,261 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, 468,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11.  According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, as of May 16, 64.17% of individuals 65 and older are fully vaccinated in Dallas County.

The additional deaths reported include:

A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. 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 Grand Prairie. She expired at home 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 did not have 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 Irving. 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 Carrollton. He expired at home and did not have 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 Mesquite. She expired in a facility 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 Garland. 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 Grand Prairie. 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 70’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of DeSoto. He expired in the facility 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 man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A woman in her 90’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. 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 Mesquite. He expired at home 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 May 14 and shows 44 active cases in the city, 32 in Dallas County and 12 in Collin County.

To date, a total of 81 cases with SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have been identified in residents of Dallas County, including: 69 cases of variant B.1.1.7; seven B.1.429 variants; two B.1.526 variants; two P.1 variants; and one P.2 variant. Five have been hospitalized with 3 requiring intensive care unit admission, and one has died. 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 18 was 178, which is a rate of 6.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents.

Over the past 2 weeks, rates of new COVID-19 diagnoses in Cedar Hill, Coppell, and Seagoville have been more than 50% higher than county-wide case rates. Rates of new COVID-19 diagnoses in Balch Springs, DeSoto, Mesquite and Rowlett have been 30% higher than county-wide case rates. Of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals in week 18 (week ending 5/8/21), 7.9% of respiratory specimens tested positive SARS-CoV-2.

During the past 30 days, there were 1,106 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 417 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. During the months of April and May, 20% of all COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Dallas County were in children under the age of 18 years—the highest proportion in this age group since the beginning of the pandemic. To date, 67 children have been hospitalized with diagnoses of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), a rare but serious complication associated with COVID-19 infection. In Dallas County, 506 cases of COVID-19 breakthrough COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated individuals have been confirmed to date, of which 82 were hospitalized, and 7 have died.

There are currently 31 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,372 residents and 2,462 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 1,090 have been hospitalized and 777 have died. About 20% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Ten 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 621 residents and 223 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.

Updated UTSW forecasting reflects a minor decrease within their model with hospitalizations between 140-220 and daily case counts of 210 by May 24th.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]