Dallas County Reports 249 New Coronavirus Cases, 2 Deaths Including Woman In Her 30s
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 249 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday
Of those, 249 confirmed cases, all but two were from the month of September.
The cumulative confirmed case count in Dallas County is 82,410 including 1,024 confirmed deaths.
The cumulative probable case count in Dallas County is 4,090 including 13 probable deaths from COVID-19.
Of the 249 new reports of positive molecular COVID-19 tests, 164 came through the Texas Department of State Health Services' electronic laboratory reporting system and two were from previous months.
The two additional deaths were a Dallas woman in her 30s who had underlying high risk health conditions and a Duncanville woman in her 60s who also had underlying high risk health conditions.
"Our numbers in Dallas County are now moving higher and that makes it very important that we all exercise good decision making. This includes wearing our mask one hundred percent of the time and maintaining six-foot distancing, washing our hands regularly, avoiding unnecessary exposures, and avoiding indoor activities where the mask cannot be worn one hundred percent of the time," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a statement.
The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 38 was 307, an increase from the previous daily average of 261 for CDC week 37.
The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased and remains high with 11.9% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 38.
A provisional total of 237 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 38 (week ending 9/19/2020), an increase from the previous week for this age group.
The percentage of cases occurring in young adults aged 18 to 22 years has increased to 13% for the month of September.
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 25% have been associated with long-term care facilities.
"The fall can lead to a good situation with the weather cooling and more opportunities to space out outdoors. However, over the last two weeks, increased capacities at retail establishments and a letting down of the guard at functions at home, along with some outbreaks at schools (although those numbers have been manageable), and a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases in people 18-22, both in college and not in college, has led to the stop of our improvement. These increases now threaten to push us back into the sort of numbers that we saw in August if we don't all work together to make smart decisions," said Judge Jenkins.