coronavirus

Dallas County Adds 597 COVID-19 Cases Tuesday, No Deaths

Of the 597 cases reported, 419 were confirmed and 178 were probable, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services

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The Dallas County Health Department is reporting 597 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, and no coronavirus-related deaths for the first time since Oct. 19.

Of the 597 cases reported, 419 were confirmed and 178 were probable, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services. DCHHS said 263 of the cases came from the DSHS backlog and all but one were from this month.

As cases in the county have risen steadily since mid-September, Dallas County's top elected official urged residents to make "good choices."

"We know what to do, we just need to do it," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. "Wear your mask and avoid crowds. This is not a year where we want to trick-or-treat door to door or go to Halloween parties."

According to data from the state health department, hospitalizations in Texas are up again Tuesday to more than 5,500, including 1,475 in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The county has now accumulated 94,358 confirmed cases of the virus since testing began in March. The county said there have been 1,101 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.

Are Trick-or-Treating and Voting Dangerous?

Judge Jenkins advised North Texans to avoid trick-or-treating this year, and other similar events, and called them a possible super-spreader activity.

Jenkins said that voting in person in Dallas County is safe and that the county has spent millions of dollars on disinfectants, plexiglass screens and other precautions to ensure that voters are safe. Voters can also see a live, color-coded map showing the approximate wait times at polling locations in Dallas County so that they can see which polls are least crowded and where voting can be done quickly. See the map here.

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