Health officials in Dallas County are reporting four more deaths and 238 additional cases of COVID-19 Thursday.
Of the 198 confirmed cases reported Thursday, Dallas County Health said 19 came from the Texas DSHS backlog.
The four new deaths reported by the county are:
- A woman in her 30's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's 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 50's 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 70's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He has been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
COVID-19 TRACKING AND TESTING
The county has accumulated 85,145 cases of the virus since testing began in March. There have been 1,044 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 5.4 deaths per day.
Dallas County Health officials said last week the provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 39 was 320, an increase from the previous daily average of 296 for CDC week 37. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has also increased and remains high with 10.7% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 39.
A provisional total of 226 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 39 (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.
