Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 10 deaths and 574 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 14 & 15. The county has reported 3,309 total deaths to date. The total confirmed cases are 249,625.

The county is also reporting a total of 37,300 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, 161,000 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 March 14, 37% of individuals 65 and older are fully vaccinated in Dallas County. Vaccine operations for both first and second doses at Fair Park resumed today.

The additional deaths reported include:

A woman in her 30’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 40’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 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 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 Sachse. He expired in hospice 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 Grand Prairie. 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 Garland. 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 Garland. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.

A man in his 90’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.

The city of Sachse has reported 2,126 COVID-19 cases through, March 12. No new cases for the city of Sachse have been reported on Monday, March 15.

One case of a B.1.526 variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been newly reported in a resident of Dallas County; this individual did not have a history of travel outside of Dallas County. Nine cases of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 have been identified in residents of Dallas County. One was hospitalized and five had history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 9 was 285, which is a rate of 10.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 9.9% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 9 (week ending 3/6/21).

During the past 30 days, there were 1,714 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 504 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. An additional death of a teacher’s assistant in a Dallas County K-12 school from COVID-19 was confirmed this past week. There are currently 30 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,236 residents and 2,335 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 988 have been hospitalized and 652 have died. About 22% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Twelve 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 416 residents and 205 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. New cases are being reported as a daily aggregate, with more detailed summary reports updated Tuesday and Friday evenings are available at: https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus/daily-updates.php

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. At last report, there were 259 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Friday, March 12. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 348 for the same time-period, which represents around 14 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.

County officials encourage everyone to follow public health guidance, continue masking and avoid crowded and non-essential indoor settings. Updated UTSW forecasting indicates hospitalizations between 90-300 and daily case counts between 300 by March 29th.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]