Dallas County Health and Human Services reported four deaths and 355 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Sep. 18.  The total case count in Dallas County is 76,962 with 990 total deaths to date.

The total number of probable cases in Dallas County is 3,774, including 11 probable deaths from COVID-19.

The total new cases today include 101 from Texas Department of State Health Services in June (1), July (18), August (7) and September (75).

The city of Sachse reported eight new COVID-positive cases today. Case 275 is an 18-year-old man in Collin County. The remaining cases are in Dallas County and include 276 is a 43-year-old man, 277 is a 20-year-old, 278 is a 18-year-old woman, 279 is a 31-year-old woman, 280 is a woman, 281 is a 32-year-old man and 282 is a 22-year-old woman.

The four additional deaths being reported today in Dallas County are:

a man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Sunnyvale. 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 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 Irving. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have 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.

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 37 was 240, a decrease from the previous daily average of 279 for CDC week 36.. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 10.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 37 (week ending 9/12/2020).

A provisional total of 156 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 37 (week ending 9/12/2020), an increase from the previous week for this age group. The percentage of cases occurring in young adults aged 18 to 22 years has increased to 14% over the past 2 weeks.

Of the cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds(66%) have been under 65 years of age, and over half reported having a chronic health condition. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

“We saw an increase in new COVID-19 positive cases of 329 today and an additional four deaths. For the CDC week ending September 12, we saw another decrease. Daily averages decreased to 240 average cases per day down from 279 for the previous week and 308 for the week before. It’s important to remember that these are provisional numbers. As cases come in and are allotted by test dates to their CDC week, the numbers change some regularly, but it is enough to see that there is a positive trend of cases going down. Also, our positivity rate, which remains high at 10%, is down from 10.8% in the previous week.

In order to continue to see gains, it’s very important that we continue to wear our mask and stay six feet apart.

With the cooler weather it becomes more pleasant to be outside. There are two things that you can do to really impact our COVID-19 numbers. The first is to take your family gatherings outside, including anyone who visits your home, or anyone whose home you visit. Being outside is much safer than staying indoors. Second, for those who are frequenting restaurants for in-dining as opposed to takeout and carry-out, please consider patio dining which is far safer than indoor dining. It will be more difficult to find that safe indoor dining experience with appropriate distancing as more people return to restaurant dining, so the patio is your best option if you don’t want to do takeout or carry-out. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]