The Dallas County Health Department is reporting nine new COVID-19 deaths Friday along with another 195 cases of the virus.
Of the 195 cases reported Friday, Dallas County officials said 89 are from the Texas Department of State Health Services backlog with three of them coming from September, 56 from August, 28 from July and two from June.
“This is our last three day weekend of the summer and it's imperative to what happens next for the next six months that we all use good judgement, wear our masks, maintain six-foot distance, wash our hands frequently and avoid large crowds for this three-day weekend," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a statement Friday. "If collectively people make good decisions for the Labor Day weekend like they did for the 4th of July, and we don't see a spike, we'll be in a very good position going into the fall."
Jenkins warned that the converse to that is that if people do what they did around Memorial Day, the case numbers will climb again and it may take months to recover back to the point of where we are today.
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"So, everyone, please exercise caution, wear your mask and make good decisions for this three-day weekend," Jenkins said.
The county reported nine more deaths Friday, including:
- A man in his 50s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 50s 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 man in his 60s who was a resident of the City of Sachse. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60s 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 80s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 90s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He died in hospice care and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 90s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Rowlett. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
The county has now accumulated 73,055 cases of the virus since testing began in March. With an estimated 62,370 recoveries being reported by the state through Friday, there are also an estimated 9,742 active cases in Dallas County. There have been 943 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 5.5 deaths per day.
Data released by the county Tuesday shows COVID-19 patients at Dallas County hospitals down to just below 400. A month ago, in early August, that number was closer to 700. Updated hospitalization data will be released late Friday afternoon.
