Cases of COVID-19 climbed to 11,636 in Mesquite, making it among the hardest-hit cities in Dallas County.

The city has an additional 1,100 probable cases. In total, at least 75 Mesquite residents have died from the virus, including a woman in her 50s this week who had been critically ill with underlying health conditions.

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 168,782 and probable cases to 20,470. The county has recorded 1,596 COVID-19 deaths.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Tuesday that COVID-19 hospitalizations are at a record high while the availability of ICU beds in the county is at a record low.

“Currently, 1 in 4 persons hospitalized in Dallas County has COVID and approximately 30% of those hospitalized in the region have COVID,” Jenkins said in a written statement. “With the UT Southwestern projections indicating that our numbers of COVID hospitalizations will rise dramatically by Jan. 5, it is imperative that all of us make the small, smart sacrifices to keep ourselves and our community as healthy as possible in this time of high spread.”

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 Monday, 1,018 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county — a record. During the same period, 557 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.

On Monday, Jenkins warned that if UT Southwestern’s forecast for hospitalizations — up to 1,500 by Jan. 5 — ICU beds will be at capacity and some patients will receive “less than optimum” care.

Statewide data

Across the state, 31,278 more cases and 241 COVID-19 deaths were reported Tuesday. Texas has now reported 1,715,978 total cases and 26,762 fatalities.

Of the new cases, 26,990 were confirmed — a record — and 4,288 were probable.

A note on the state dashboard said that some of the cases included in Tuesday’s totals were from previous days, since some counties did not report COVID-19 data over the holiday weekend.

The state has now reported 1,518,499 confirmed cases and 197,479 probable cases.

The state also added 1,030 older confirmed cases and 244 older probable cases that were recently reported by labs.

There are 11,775 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals — a new high — including 3,619 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

On Tuesday, 23.64% of patients in the hospital region covering the D-FW area were COVID-19 patients.

The seven-day average positivity rate statewide for molecular tests, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 17.154% as of Monday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.

For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 11.05%.

Dallas County’s case counts for Mesquite are updated Tuesday and Friday.

Here are other ways the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, is affecting Mesquite.

Coronavirus cases

Dallas County’s case counts for the city are updated Tuesday and Friday.

Changes around the city

• Mesquite Social Services, which has served Mesquite-area residents for nearly 58 years, announced it would close, citing the pandemic.
• The Mesquite Animal Shelter is practicing social distancing and requesting all patrons wear a mask or facial covering to enter the facility.
• Senior centers are closed with all activities suspended.
• All water utility customers having financial challenges paying their bill are encouraged to contact Water Utility Billing at 972-216-6208.
• More information can be found on the city’s coronavirus website.

Education

• Mesquite ISD launched a new online reporting tool for students and staff to notify the district of COVID-19 cases or close exposures.