COVID-19 Deaths 'Remain Stubbornly High' Says Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins As Cases Decline
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County Health and Human Services 265 additional positive cases of COVID-19 in Dallas County on Tuesday, March 9.
Of those, 251 are confirmed cases and 14 are probable cases.
There is a cumulative total of 248,225 confirmed cases (PCR test).
There is a cumulative total of 36,710 probable cases (antigen test).
A total of 3,180 Dallas County residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19 illness after the county reported 31 more on Tuesday.
"Although the numbers of new cases are trending down, the deaths remain stubbornly high and I'm hopeful that they will go down soon which they should based on the number of new cases that we're seeing," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. "Remember death is a trailing indicator and a lot of the deaths we're experiencing now are of people who became sick when case counts were very high."
Dallas County is providing initial vaccinations to those most at risk of exposure to COVID-19 and over 132,000 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11.
At Fair Park, first doses through the Community Vaccination Center and second doses through DCHHS will continue this week.
"Today 5,500 people are receiving their first shot of Pfizer at Fair Park and thousands more are receiving their second shot of Moderna at Fair Park. Yesterday, thousands received the one-and-done Johnson & Johnson shot at Fair Park. This scene is taking place on a smaller scale at numerous sites throughout the Metroplex every single day and moving us closer to herd immunity and a brighter future in the near term," said Judge Jenkins.
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 8 was 452, which is a rate of 17.2 daily new cases per 100,000 residents.
The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 12.1% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 8 (week ending 2/27/21).
During the past 30 days, there were 2,668 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 553 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.
A total of 466 children in Dallas County under 18 years of age have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic, including 37 patients diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children (MIS-C).
More than 80% of reported MIS-C cases in Dallas have occurred in children who are Hispanic or Latino or Black.
"Tomorrow, the Governor's mask mandate ends, but it is important for all of us to continue doing the things that have been proven to be successful in curving the spread of COVID-19. Chief among those is to continue wearing your mask when you are around people outside your home, wash your hands frequently, avoid crowds, maintain distance and forego get-togethers at least for now. However, for those who are fully vaccinated, which is defined as two weeks after your last shot (in the case of Johnson & Johnson, it is two weeks after the shot), the CDC now advises that in-house, maskless get-togethers with family and friends who are also fully vaccinated are allowed. The CDC also states those who are fully vaccinated may also 'refrain from quarantine and testing if they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 after contact with someone who has COVID-19. These are just more reasons why everyone should sign up in as many places as they're willing to drive and get their vaccine as soon as you are eligible. For a vaccine in Dallas County sign up here." said Judge Jenkins.
The additional deaths reported Tuesday include the following:
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Garland. He expired in hospice and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Seagoville. He was found deceased at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Cedar Hill. He expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Desoto. He expired at home 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 60's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Richardson. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 60's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. 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 Mesquite. 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 Balch Springs. 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 Irving. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. 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 Dallas. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70's who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. She 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 Desoto. He expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 70's who was a resident of the City of Rowlett. He expired in a facility.
- A man in his 70's who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. 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 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 a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 70's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 80's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Carrollton. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 80's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 80's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 90's who was a resident of the City of Garland. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 90's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Mesquite. She expired in a facility and had underlying high risk health conditions.