Dallas County is reporting another 1,867 new cases of COVID-19 Monday along with four deaths. Meanwhile, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says a large-scale vaccination center that opened Monday in Fair Park is "running smoothly."
Of the cases reported Monday, the county said 1,813 were confirmed cases and 54 were probable (antigen test) cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county from March 2020 to 194,380 and the number of probable (antigen test) cases to 24,706. The total of confirmed and probable cases in the county is now at 219,086. Over the last seven days, Dallas County officials have reported 17,505 new confirmed and probable cases of the virus for an average of 2,501 per day.
County officials said Monday there have been 1,777 deaths in the county attributed to the virus since March 2020. The four victims included a Richardson man in his 50s, a Cedar Hill man in his 60s, a Richardson man in his 70s and a DeSoto man in his 70s, all of whom had been hospitalized and all of whom had high-risk health conditions.
They opened a large-scale vaccine hub at Fair Park on Monday where they planned to administer up to 2,000 vaccines per day for those in Phase 1A and 1B. The vaccination center does not accept walk-ups and you must have an appointment to get vaccinated. Register for an appointment at the link below.
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If you would like to register to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Dallas County, click here for more information.
The county is also planning on providing vaccines at two other locations in the county where they can administer an additional 1,000 vaccines per day.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Monday afternoon that the Fair Park mass vaccination center was "running smoothly" on its first day but cautioned that people still need to follow mitigation efforts that have been in place for the last few months.
"While I’m pleased that vaccinations are accelerating, we are at an all-time high for hospitalizations and COVID infections. It’s important to remember that with these sort of new infection and hospitalization numbers, things that you felt were safe several weeks ago are much less safe today," Jenkins said. "That is why doctors ask that you do your part to help them have capacity so they can help anyone who needs any sort of help at our hospitals. Please follow doctors’ advice to wear your mask, wash your hands, avoid crowds by finding ways to do shopping online or through curbside pickup, avoid unnecessary exposures, and forgo get-togethers with people outside your home during this time of high spread."
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The vaccine is currently only being administered to those who are part of Phase 1A and 1B, as outlined by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Those in Phase 1A are front-line healthcare workers or residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1B includes those who are over the age of 65, or those over the age of 16 with a chronic medical condition that puts them at risk for severe illness.
Once vaccinated, people are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks after the first shot, but full protection may not happen until a couple of weeks after the second shot. Even when fully vaccinated, it's still possible to become infected by the virus since the vaccine does not offer 100% protection.
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