Health officials in Dallas County on Saturday reported 156 additional cases of COVID-19 and four more coronavirus-related deaths.
One of the new cases reported was from a sample collected in April through the Texas Department of State Health Services' backlog, the rest were gathered in September.
The four deaths reported Saturday were all in residents of Grand Prairie. They included a man in his 60s who had been critically ill at an area hospital and had underlying health conditions, a woman in her 60s who had been critically ill at an area hospital and had underlying health conditions, a man his 60s who had been critically ill at an area hospital and did not have underlying health conditions, and a woman in her 70s who had been critically ill at an area hospital and had underlying health conditions, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the county's positivity rate, while high at 10%, is down from 10.8% in the previous week.
"To see less COVID-19 cases, more businesses open and thrive, and more kids in school, it's very important that you continue to wear your mask and keep 6 feet distance, wash your hands frequently, avoid unnecessary trips, and avoid any indoor activities where people are not wearing masking 100% of the time," Jenkins said in a statement. "If we all make smart decisions, together we can get to a better place."
The county has now accumulated 77,118 cases of the virus since testing began in March. With 69,934 estimated recoveries being reported by the state through Saturday, there are roughly 6,190 active cases in Dallas County.
There have been 994 confirmed 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 5.7 deaths per day.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
