Dallas County Health and Human Services reported one death and 492 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Oct 10.  The county has reported 1,048 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 86,125.

The total new cases today include 167 from Texas Department of State Health Services, including cases from March (1), September (4) and October (162).

The death being reported in Dallas County is a woman in her 80’s who was a resident of a long-term facility in the city of Richardson. She expired in the facility and did not have underlying high risk health conditions

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 40 was 346. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 9.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 40.

A provisional total of 265 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 40 (week ending10/03/2020), 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 12% for the month of September.

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.

Local health experts use hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ER visits as three of the key indicators in determining the COVID-19 Risk Level (color-coded risk) and corresponding guidelines for activities during our COVID-19 response. There were 381 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Friday, October 9. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 432 for the 24-hour period ending on Friday, October 9, which represents around 17 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.

“The raw numbers for the week saw an increase from 350 daily average cases last week to 383 this week, including a total of 15 deaths. The raw numbers are arrived by taking the total number of new cases reported and dividing by seven for the week ending on Saturday; however, the epidemiologists’ DCHHS summary report by CDC week is more accurate because they go back in and strip out test dates and add all tests to their appropriate week. For the last CDC week that was reported late last night, the numbers of new COVID-19 cases are roughly flat. If this is correct, that is very good news as we have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases for the last few weeks and continue to see an increase in hospitalizations.

Our hospitalizations since September 27 have increased more than forty percent. The decisions that you make today and tomorrow and every day that follows will determine what happens a week or two after. For less people to get sick, more businesses to thrive, and children to have their best chance at an in-school experience that’s not interrupted by outbreaks, we all need to do our part: wear our masks, maintain six foot distance, wash our hands, avoid frequenting any indoor events outside your home where the mask cannot be worn one hundred percent of the time, and when people come into your home, wear your mask and maintain six-foot distance. The more distance the better, and it’s best to take events outside rather than to organize or attend indoor events. We can do this North Texas if we all focus on making good decisions for ourselves and our community and put that over our selfish desires to do the things the doctors tell us will hurt public health,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]