Dallas County New COVID-19 Cases Trending Down; Adds 355 Cases Friday, 4 Deaths

The Dallas County Health Department is reporting four more deaths and 355 additional cases of COVID-19 Friday.

Of the 355 cases reported Friday, Dallas County Health said 101 came from the Texas DSHS backlog with one coming from June, 18 coming from July and seven coming from August while 75 cases were from earlier this month.

The new deaths reported by the county include:

• A man in his 50s who was a resident of Sunnyvale. 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 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 Irving. She 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 Duncanville. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement Friday that the average number of cases is down for the week to 240 per day from 279 the week before and from 308 the week before that.

"It's important to remember that these are provisional numbers. As cases come in and allotted by test dates to their CDC week, the numbers change," Jenkins said. "But, it's enough to see that there is a positive trend of cases going down."

Jenkins said the county's positivity rate, while high at 10%, is down from 10.8% in the previous week.

On Thursday, Jenkins said that although Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is allowing for restaurants and other businesses to allow more patrons inside, he is urging the community not to look at what is permissible, but rather what is safe.

"With the governor increasing capacities, it will be more difficult to find indoor experiences with at least six-foot distancing and it will be up to patrons to find the right establishment and time of day to patronize them safely," Jenkins said. "The Public Health Committee still recommends that people avoid bars, even if they've found some way to open under a loophole, and to use outdoor workouts in lieu of gyms."

The judge also noted a provisional total of 156 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in school-aged children (ages 5-17) during CDC Week 37, an increase from the previous week for this age group. Jenkins said Friday the percentage of cases occurring in young adults aged 18-22 increased to 14% over the last two weeks.

The county has now accumulated 76,962 cases of the virus since testing began in March. With 68,672 estimated recoveries being reported by the state through Friday, there are roughly 7,300 active cases in Dallas County. There have been 990 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.