Dallas County Reports 1,947 New Coronavirus Cases, 6 Deaths
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 1,947 additional positive cases of COVID-19 in Dallas County on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
Of those, 1,549 are confirmed cases and 398 are probable cases.
There is a cumulative total of 147,591 cases (PCR test), including 1,391 deaths after six more were announced on Tuesday.
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Despite the grim news, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins addressed the positives regarding the Pfizer vaccine's arrival to North Texas hospitals.
"In the coming days, more and more hospitals will get the vaccine, and will be able to give them to their healthcare heroes," said Judge Jenkins in a statement. "In the coming days, we'll begin the vaccinations in nursing homes, and as more vaccines are approved and production ramps up, more supply will become available."
Judge Jenkins pointed out it will be a while before the general public has broad access to the vaccine, so in the meantime, people need to continue to mask up in public and social distance.
The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 49 was to 1,560, which is a rate of 56.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents—the highest case rate in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic.
The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased, with 21.6% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 49 (week ending 12/5/20).
Over the past 30 days, there have been 4,520 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 735 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, including 681 staff members.
Of these cases, 534 have been associated with extracurricular activities, including athletics.
There are currently 97 active long-term care facility outbreaks.
Over the past 30 days, a total of 928 COVID-19 cases have been reported from these facilities, including 364 staff members.
Of these cases 35 have been hospitalized, and 41 have died, including 2 deaths of staff members.
Twenty-six outbreaks of COVID-19 in congregate-living facilities (e.g. homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days associated with 166 cases, including 8 hospitalizations. One facility has reported 89 COVID-19 outbreak cases since October.
Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age.
Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 22% have been associated with long-term care facilities.
The additional deaths reported Tuesday include the following:
- A woman in her 40'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 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 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 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 80'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.
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