Dallas County Reports 1,179 New Coronavirus Cases, 8 Deaths
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 1,179 additional positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
That total includes 1,096 confirmed cases and 83 probable cases.
There is a cumulative total of 127,786 cases (PCR test), including 1,218 confirmed deaths in Dallas County since the pandemic began.
"Most labs that did not report over the holidays or did not test for several days over the holidays are back online and tomorrow's numbers should be representative of a typical day of testing," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a statement.
Judge Jenkins talked about a report out Tuesday discussing recommendations for Texas in dealing with the surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
"A report from Dr. Birx and the National Coronavirus Task Force, issued on November 22 and sent to Governor Abbott, was discovered by a watchdog group. The report contains recommendations for the Governor to act on including limiting crowd sizes at venues and businesses. These recommendations mirror the recommendations that the Public Health Committee, made up of local experts in infectious disease, epidemiology and public health in Dallas County, have been asking of Governor Abbott for over a month. It's unknown whether the Governor will act or to what extent, but you need not wait for government action to recognize that the health experts on the national and the local level are telling us it is not safe to go to crowded places, we should avoid get-togethers with people outside our family, and we should wear our mask whenever around others," Judge Jenkins said.
Judge Jenkins reiterated this is a time for "shared sacrifice" in the community and do the things doctors and health experts recommend to keep people safe during the pandemic.
"Now is a time for patriotism in doing things that not only will potentially protect you and your family, but that will protect and strengthen our community and our country. We won't have to do this forever. The vaccine is coming but it's not here yet and we must hold on a little bit longer. I hope we will keep our spirit of thanksgiving going throughout this holiday season. I know we're thankful for our own families and I hope we all recognize that following the doctors' scientific recommendations will protect not only your family but others you've never met and that is the foundation of patriotism: to protect your community and your country, even those you've never met. Let's stop looking at our neighbors with the thought that they're doing something wrong and we're doing something better, and all ask ourselves how we can do a little better because incremental changes in our behavior can have a big impact on the spread of COVID," said Judge Jenkins.
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The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 46 has increased to 1,405, which is a rate of 53.3 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 17.0% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 46 (week ending 11/14/20).
A provisional total of 1,282 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 46, a three-fold increase from 5 weeks earlier (week ending 10/10/20).
Since November 1, there have been 4,907 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from over 704 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, including 550 staff members.
A total of 1,282 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 46 -- which is 50% more than the number of cases in this age group reported during the second highest peak week of cases in July (Week 28).
Since November 1, there have been 130 COVID-19 cases in children and staff reported from 97 separate daycares in Dallas County.
There are currently 95 active long-term care facility outbreaks.
Over the past 30 days, a total of 798 COVID-19 cases have been reported from these facilities, including 309 staff members. This is the highest number of long-term care facilities with active outbreaks reported in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these cases 27 have died, including 2 deaths of staff members.
Over twenty clusters of cases in congregate-living facilities (homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days associated with 168 cases, including one facility with 87 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
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 23% have been associated with long-term care facilities.
The additional deaths reported Tuesday include the following:
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and did not have any underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City Grand Prairie. 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 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 woman in 70'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 70's who was a resident of the City DeSoto. He had been hospitalized, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 70's who was a resident of the City Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in 80's who was a resident of the City DeSoto. He had been hospitalized, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
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