Dallas County is reporting six more COVID-19 related deaths Thursday along with another 537 new confirmed cases of the infection. The number of deaths reported is a drop well below the three dozen reported Wednesday and the number of new cases is also well below both the 7-day and 14-day averages.
The latest six victims of the virus include:
- A Dallas man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions and had been critically ill in a hospital ICU with the virus.
- A Richardson woman in her 60s who lived at a long-term care facility who had underlying health conditions and had been critically ill in a hospital ICU with the virus.
- A Dallas woman in her 70s who had underlying health conditions and had been critically ill in a hospital ICU with the virus.
- A Dallas man in his 70s who had underlying health conditions and had been critically ill in a hospital ICU with the virus.
- A Dallas woman in her 90s who was a resident of a long-term care facility who had underlying health conditions and had been critically ill in a hospital ICU with the virus.
- A Dallas woman in her 90s who died at the long-term care facility where she lived. She did not have underlying health conditions.
"Today’s our number of new cases continued on a positive trend," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who also urged people to continue physical distancing and wearing masks when in public.
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Jenkins added that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations went up slightly overnight -- county data shows 658 people in acute care through Wednesday.
In the last seven days, Dallas County has added 5,182 new cases of the virus, for an average of 740 cases per day, a drop from yesterday's 7-day average of 756 cases. Thursday's 537 new cases are lower than both the 7-day average and the 14-day average of 805 new cases per day.
The 14-day average of new cases has dropped for five consecutive days from 956 on July 25 to 805 on Thursday.
The county has now accumulated 49,269 cases of the virus since testing began in March. There have been 664 deaths attributed in the county to the virus, which, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang, is now the third leading cause of death in the county behind diseases of the heart and cancers. Since March 20, the date of the first reported COVID-19 related death in Dallas County, the county has averaged five deaths per day.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, an estimated 32,088 people in the county have recovered from the virus (through Thursday) leaving an estimated 16,517 known patients fighting the infection.
Also Thursday, Jenkins said in a statement that more than 1,800 children under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with the virus in the first three weeks of July. During that same timeframe, 38 children have been hospitalized including four in the ICU.
Of cases requiring hospitalization, two-thirds of all COVID-19 patients have been under 65 years of age, and about half do not have high-risk chronic health conditions. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
The county has been reporting for several weeks now that more than a third of the deaths related to COVID-19 have been among residents of long-term care facilities.
