Dallas County reports 848 coronavirus cases, 2 deaths

Dallas County reported 848 more coronavirus cases Sunday, all of which the county considers new. Two COVID-19 deaths also were reported.

The latest victims were a Dallas man in his 60s who had been critically ill in a hospital, and a Dallas woman in her 80s who had been hospitalized. Both had underlying health problems.

On Saturday, Dallas County reported 876 new coronavirus cases — 654 confirmed cases and 222 probable cases — along with three deaths.

The three COVID-19 victims whose deaths were reported Saturday were all Dallas men who had been critically ill at hospitals — one in his 60s and two in their 70s. Two of the three men had underlying health issues, health officials reported.

Of the new cases reported Sunday, 807 are confirmed and 41 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 102,089 and probable cases to 8,266. The county has recorded 1,132 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 18 probable deaths.

A spokeswoman recently said the county was counting only positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases, though a few antibody and “household” results had been included previously.

Labs either report coronavirus cases directly to the county health department or to the state health department, which then relays the information to individual counties. The county did not specify how many cases came from the state and how many were reported by the county.

While other North Texas counties provide estimates for how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas County officials do not report recoveries, saying it’s not a measurement used by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The county reported that during the Oct. 25-Oct. 31 period, 577 school-age children tested positive for COVID-19.

More than two-thirds of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization so far have been in people under 65, and diabetes has been an underlying condition in about one-third of all hospitalized patients, according to the county.

The county’s provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases for the latest reporting period, Oct. 25 to Oct. 31, was 740, or 28.4 cases per 100,000 residents. The figure is calculated by the date of the COVID-19 test collection, according to the county.

Dallas County doesn’t provide a positivity rate for all COVID-19 tests conducted in the area; county health officials have said they don’t have an accurate count of how many tests are conducted each day. But as of the county’s most recent reporting period, 14.9% of people who showed up at hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for the virus. That’s a decrease from the previous reporting period, when 15.4% such patients tested positive.

Of the county’s total confirmed COVID-19 deaths, about 24% are associated with long-term care facilities.

Statewide data

Across the state, 5,404 more cases and 43 COVID-19 deaths were reported Sunday. Texas has now reported 956,234 confirmed cases and 18,743 fatalities.

There are 6,080 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 1,551 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The seven-day average positivity rate statewide, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 11% as of Sunday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.

The state also provides a positivity rate based on when lab results were reported to the state; that rate stood at about 11.8% as of Sunday.

Officials previously calculated Texas’ coronavirus positivity rate by dividing the most recent seven days of new positive test results by the most recent seven days of total new test results. By that measure, the positivity rate is now about 9%, according to the state dashboard.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services has said that positivity rate data based on lab results and new cases probably will be phased out but is still being provided for transparency and continuity purposes.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 456 coronavirus cases and three new deaths Sunday, a day after the county posted a single-day record in new cases.

All three of the latest victims were men from Fort Worth — one in his 50s and two in their 60s. All three had underlying health problems.

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 73,636, including 65,777 confirmed cases, 7,859 probable cases and 57,303 recoveries. The death toll stands at 763.

According to Sunday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 546 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

Collin County added 355 coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing its total to 20,165. The county also reported one new fatality, raising the death toll to 200.

The county has 1,838 active cases of the virus — including 186 people who are hospitalized, according to the county dashboard — and has recorded 18,327 recoveries.

Collin County, which receives its data from the Department of State Health Services since turning over case management in June, has a note on its dashboard warning residents that it has low confidence in the numbers the state is providing.

Denton County

Denton County officials have said they will no longer report new coronavirus data on Sundays.

As of Saturday, the county had reported 18,114 cases, including 3,331 that were active and 14,645 that were recoveries. The death toll stood at 138.

Other counties

The Texas Department of State Health Services has taken over reporting for these other North Texas counties. In some counties, new data may not be reported every day.

The latest numbers are:

• Rockwall County: 2,106 cases, 34 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 3,760 cases, 67 deaths.
• Ellis County: 5,229 cases, 91 deaths.
• Johnson County: 4,007 cases, 71 deaths.