Dallas County reports 1,640 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths as hospitalizations remain above 15%

Dallas County reported 1,640 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, while more than 14,000 new cases statewide pushed Texas past 1.2 million total cases. Three COVID-19 deaths also were reported in Dallas County.

The county’s latest victims were a Dallas woman in her 70s, a Duncanville woman in her 60s and a Lancaster woman in her 40s. All had been hospitalized, and all but the Duncanville woman had underlying health problems, officials said.

Of the new cases reported Wednesday, 1,407 were confirmed and 233 were probable. Those figures brought the county’s total confirmed cases to 129,193 and probable cases to 12,424. The county has recorded 1,221 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 36 deaths probably caused by the disease.

Across North Texas, 15.8% of hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Wednesday is the sixth straight day the hospital region has reported hospitalizations above Gov. Greg Abbott’s 15% threshold. According to the governor’s order, after seven consecutive days above the threshold, bars will close and retail stores and restaurants — currently allowed to operate at 75% of capacity — will have to cut back to 50%.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement that Wednesday’s numbers appeared to be accurate, as reporting agencies were back online following the Thanksgiving holiday. Jenkins also encouraged residents who were in crowds last week to get tested for the virus.

“We must stop looking at our neighbors with contempt for their perceived shortcomings in keeping our community safe, and instead focus on what we can do to get a little bit better as we all renew our strength towards shared sacrifice and patriotism,” Jenkins said in a written statement. “This will make our community and country stronger for a little while longer as we await the broad dissemination of a vaccine.”

The county is counting only positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases; a few antibody and “household” results were included previously.

While other North Texas counties provide estimates for how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas County officials do not, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use that metric.

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 Tuesday, 800 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 575 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease, making up about 21% of all ER visits in the county.

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

Of the county’s total confirmed COVID-19 deaths, about 23% have been associated with long-term care facilities.

Statewide data

Across the state, 14,758 more cases and 207 COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday. Texas has now reported 1,200,674 confirmed cases and 21,756 fatalities.

There were 9,109 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 2,527 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The seven-day average positivity rate statewide, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 14.4% as of Tuesday. 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 13.0% as of Tuesday.

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 11.9%, 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 probably will be phased out but is still being provided for transparency and continuity purposes.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 1,730 coronavirus cases and five new deaths Wednesday.

The county’s latest victims were two Fort Worth residents — a man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s — a Bedford man in his 60s, a Hurst woman in her 80s and a North Richland Hills woman in her 70s. Four of the five victims had underlying health conditions; health officials did not specify which victim did not.

The newly reported cases brought the county’s total to 103,781 — 91,981 confirmed cases and 11,800 probable cases. There have been 73,232 recoveries. The death toll stood at 854.

According to Wednesday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 881 people were hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 563 coronavirus cases to Collin County’s total Tuesday, bringing the tally to 27,553. Five new COVID-19 fatalities also were reported. The county’s death toll stood at 261.

The Collin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Joseph Quillen Jr., a Navy veteran who had been a detention officer for the county for nearly two decades, died Tuesday night after contracting COVID-19.

According to state data, the county had 3,138 active cases and had recorded 24,415 recoveries.

COVID-19 hospitalizations totaled 318, according to the county’s dashboard.

Denton County

Denton County reported 492 coronavirus cases — of which 384 were active — and no new deaths Wednesday.

The newly reported cases brought the county’s total to 24,623, including 6,194 that were active and 18,281 that are recoveries. The death toll stood at 148.

The newly reported cases raised the county’s total molecular cases to 20,741, while antigen cases stood at 3,882.

There were 140 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 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: 3,274 cases, 37 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 5,279 cases, 83 deaths.
• Ellis County: 7,460 cases, 117 deaths.
• Johnson County: 5,917 cases, 106 deaths.