The Dallas County Health Department is reporting another death and 638 additional cases of COVID-19 Tuesday.
Of the 638 cases reported, 606 were confirmed and 32 were probable, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services. DCHHS said 328 of the cases came from the DSHS backlog with one coming from June, eight from September and 319 from this month.
The latest death reported by the county is of 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
“Today we see a large increase in the number of new COVID-19 positive cases. Remember that we are looking for weekly trends and not one day spikes; however, we saw the release of CDC week 40 in the Dallas County Health and Human Services summary report which was yet another increase in the number of positive cases," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. "Our hospitalizations and ED visits are continuing to go up in the region and her in Dallas County and we are seeing a CDC week 40 climb in the number of children ages 5-17 who are contracting COVID-19 as well."
COVID-19 TRACKING AND TESTING
"Overall our schools are doing a good job with infection prevention, and many of our families are making good choices, but it’s up to all of us to make a choice to wear our mask when around people outside our home, maintain six-foot distance, wash our hands frequently, and avoid crowds," Jenkins said. "We want the numbers to flatten and begin to go down with this pleasant weather and as we enter the holiday season. Unfortunately, we are currently going in the wrong direction but I know together we can turn it around and get to a better place for the fall."
The county has now accumulated 87,381 confirmed cases of the virus since testing began in March. There have been 1,057 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.
County health officials said Tuesday the 7-day average for CDC Week 40 was 374, an increase from the previous daily average of 346 from Week 37. The county also said that 283 school-aged children were confirmed or probable during that same week, an increase over the previous week.
There were 351 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Monday, Oct. 12. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 385 for the 24 hour period ending on Monday, Oct.12, which represents around 17% of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.
