Dallas County

Dallas County Reports 2,111 Cases of COVID-19 Saturday, 8 Deaths at End of Deadliest Week

Dallas County has reported 142,972 confirmed cases and 15,364 probable cases, and 1,323 deaths

NBC 5

Health officials in Dallas County on Saturday reported 2,111 additional cases of COVID-19 and eight coronavirus-related deaths.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement that Saturday marked the end of the deadliest week from COVID-19 and the highest average daily number of newly reported cases to date.

In the seven day period ending Saturday, the county reported 91 additional deaths, according to county data.

Of the deaths reported Saturday, seven were residents who had underlying high risk health conditions. They included a Garland man in his 50s, a Dallas woman in her 60s, an Irving man in his 60s, a Mesquite man in his 60s, two Dallas men in their 60s and a DeSoto woman in her 80s. The eighth resident — a Farmers Branch man in his 50s — did not have high risk conditions.

All eight had been critically ill and hospitalized with the virus, according to the county.

Dallas County has reported 1,323 confirmed deaths related to the coronavirus.

Of the cases reported Saturday, 1,669 were confirmed and 442 were probable, which means an antigen test confirmed the result. Since March, Dallas County Health and Human Services has reported 142,972 confirmed cases and 15,364 probable cases, or those confirmed by antigen tests.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported an estimated 127,768 recoveries for Dallas County as of Saturday, Dec. 12.

Dallas County's provisional seven-day average of new cases, which uses the date of the test collection, for Week 49 was 1,560 new cases per day, a rate of 56.6 daily new cases per 100,000, which is the highest case rate since the pandemic began, according to the county.

“Our first vaccines will arrive soon in Dallas County, and my hope is that within hours of arrival, those will be administered to some of our healthcare heroes at local hospital across North Texas," said Jenkins, who also encouraged people to wear masks and make smart choices.

In the last 30 days, there have been a total of 4,520 cases of COVID-19 in school-aged children and staff reported from 735 K-12 schools in the county. Of those, 681 are staff members and 534 are associated with extracurricular activities, including athletics.

Of all confirmed coronavirus cases requiring hospitalization, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years old, DCHHS said.

There are 97 current active long-term care facility outbreaks in the county and 928 cases of the virus have been reported from those facilities.

Of those, 364 have been staff, 35 have been hospitalized and 41 have died, including two staff, the county reported.

Since the pandemic began, 22% of COVID-19-related deaths have been associated with long-term care facilities.

There have also been 26 outbreaks in congregate-living facilities, such as homeless shelters and group homes, in the last 30 days, amounting to 166 cases and eight hospitalizations. One facility has reported 89 cases since October, according to the county.

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