Dallas County Adds 24 New COVID-19 Deaths Tuesday, 217 Cases

The Dallas County Health Department is reporting 24 new confirmed COVID-19 deaths Tuesday along with 217 new cases of the virus.

DCHHS said the 217 cases reported Tuesday were new and none were from the Texas Department of State Health Services backlog.

Two of the two dozen deaths included men in their 30s, including one who had no underlying high-risk health conditions. The rest of the recently deceased victims include:

• A man in his 30s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 30s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 40s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired in an area hospital ED, and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 50s 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 50s 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 woman in her 60s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital.
• A man in his 60s who was a resident of the City of Balch Springs. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 60s 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 60s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have 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 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 60s who was a resident of the City of Garland. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 70s 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 woman in her 70s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 70s who was a resident of the City of Duncanville. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 70s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. He expired in an area hospital ED.
• A man in his 70s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized.
• A woman in her 70s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She had been hospitalized and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 70s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital.
• A woman in her 70s 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 woman in her 80s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Lancaster. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 90s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. She had been hospitalized and had underlying high-risk health conditions.

"We are seeing a continuing good trend in lowering numbers of infections and hospitalizations," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. "We must not lose our resolve to do the things that have caused that to turn in the right direction, namely masking, six-foot distancing, frequent hand-washing, avoiding unnecessary trips and avoiding any indoor activity where the people around you cannot be masked 100% of the time."

The additional cases increased the county's 7-day average from 463 cases per day to 473 cases per day; the 14-day average went up from 982 cases per day to 1040 cases per day. Both averages continue to be impacted by the state backlog, particularly the 14-day average that is still impacted by the more than 7,000 cases added Aug. 16-17.

Both Jenkins and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said last week that counties should expect to have several more days of "discovered, backlogged cases" before the reporting normalizes. Of the backlogged cases, Jenkins said the patients did receive the results of their COVID-19 test, but that information was lost in the state's system and no tracing was done.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said the state and private labs have made changes to fix lags in reporting and that he has more confidence than ever that the accounting of the numbers being reported by the state are accurate.

The county has now accumulated 69,303 cases of the virus since testing began in March. With an estimated 51,723 recoveries being reported by the state through Tuesday, there are also an estimated 16,699 active cases in Dallas County. There have been 881 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.