Dallas County reports 868 coronavirus cases, 6 additional deaths

Dallas County on Thursday reported 868 more coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. Six new COVID-19 deaths were also reported.

The latest victims were two Dallas residents, a woman in her 50s who lived at a long-term care facility and a man in his 60s; two Irving residents, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 70s; a Garland woman in her 90s; and a Grand Prairie woman in her 80s. All of them had underlying high-risk health conditions.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement that residents need to take more precautions against the spread of the virus, including making a mask part of their regular wardrobe outside of the home.

“Although there is some evidence that more people are renewing their diligence in wearing a mask and avoiding crowds, not enough of us are doing this and our numbers are continuing to rise,” he said.

Of the new cases reported Thursday, 601 are confirmed and 267 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 99,761 and probable cases to 7,601. The county has recorded 1,127 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 16 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.

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.

Health officials use hospitalizations, intensive-care admissions and emergency room visits as key metrics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended Wednesday, 480 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 522 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.

The county’s provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases for the latest reporting period, Oct. 18-24, was 733. 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, 15.4% of people who showed up at hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for the virus. That’s an increase from the previous reporting period, when 14% of such patients tested positive.

Statewide data

Across the state, 8,332 more cases and 133 COVID-19 deaths were reported Thursday. Texas has now reported 934,994 confirmed cases and 18,453 fatalities.

There are 5,954 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 1,542 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The seven-day average positivity rate statewide, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 10.9% as of Wednesday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.

Gov. Greg Abbott has said a positivity rate of about 10% is cause for concern.

The state also provides a positivity rate based on when lab results were reported to the state; that rate stood at 11.1% as of Wednesday.

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 9.7%, according to the state dashboard.

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

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 938 coronavirus cases — one of the highest numbers of daily new cases the county has reported during the pandemic — and eight new deaths Thursday.

Details about the latest victims were not immediately available.

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 71,166, including 63,825 confirmed cases, 7,341 probable cases and 55,543 recoveries. The death toll stands at 753.

According to Thursday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 527 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

Collin County added 291 coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing its total to 19,480. It was one of the county’s highest daily case totals of the pandemic.

The county also reported three new deaths, raising the toll to 193. No details were available about the latest victims.

The county has 1,471 active cases of the virus — including 177 people who are hospitalized, according to the county dashboard.

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 reported 207 coronavirus cases — of which 131 are active — on Thursday. No new deaths were reported.

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 17,842, including 3,228 that are active and 14,476 that are recoveries. The death toll stands at 138.

The newly reported cases raised the county’s total molecular cases to 15,566, while antigen cases stand at 2,276.

There are 90 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, according to the county’s data.

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: 2,098 cases, 34 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 3,726 cases, 62 deaths.
• Ellis County: 5,190 cases, 85 deaths.
• Johnson County: 3,972 cases, 69 deaths.