Dallas County Health and Human Services reported three deaths and 435 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, today, Oct 22. The county has reported 1,093 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 91,664.
The county is also reporting a total of 4,819 probable cases and 14 probable deaths.
The total new cases include 291 from Texas Department of State Health Services, all but one in October.
The additional three deaths being reported today include the following:
A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. He had been critically ill in an area hospital.
A woman in 70’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
A man in his 90’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
The city of Sachse reported its 381st through 385th cases, a 30-year old Dallas County woman, a 20-year-old Collin County man, a 37-year-old Collin County woman, a 19-year old Dallas County woman and a 39-year old Collin County man.
The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 41 was 482, an increase from the previous daily average of 385 for CDC week 40. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 11.3% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 41.
A provisional total of 406 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 41 (week ending10/10/2020), which is over twice the number of children diagnosed in this age group four weeks earlier (9/12/20).
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. About 24% have been associated with long-term care facilities.
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 440 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Wednesday, October 21. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 531 for the 24-hour period ending on Wednesday, October 21, which represents around 20 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. Increasing hospitalizations continue to be a concern and show the severity of this virus. Individual behavior change is necessary to decrease the severity of this wave.
“We continue to see an increase in the number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases as well as an increase in our hospitalizations. We are back to the mid-August numbers for hospitalizations and that increase is placing a strain on our local hospitals, especially on their staff who have been tirelessly responding to COVID since March. The projections are that these numbers will keep increasing which is why we must act now to stop the spread. The actions you can take as an individual to reduce the spread are to stay home except for essential activities, wear a mask when around others, maintain six-foot distancing and wash your hands. We can do this North Texas but it’s up to all of us to take action now,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
From Staff Reports • [email protected]
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