Dallas County is reporting 2,994 COVID-19 cases Wednesday along with 21 more deaths.
The county also reported 1,197 COVID-19 patients who were in county hospitals through Tuesday night. They also reported 572 ER visits Tuesday for people with COVID-19 symptoms.
"We continue to see high numbers of COVID hospitalizations in Dallas County and throughout the region. UTSW has updated modeling out that predicts Dallas County could have up to 1,900 patients hospitalized for COVID and roughly 3,600 new COVID cases a day by Jan. 22," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Of the cases reported Wednesday, the county said 2,589 were confirmed cases and 405 were probable (antigen test) cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county from March 2020 to 199,948 and the number of probable (antigen test) cases to 25,681. The total of confirmed and probable cases in the county is now at 225,629. Over the last seven days, Dallas County officials have reported 18,827 new confirmed and probable cases of the virus for an average of 2,690 per day.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
County officials said Wednesday there have been 1,812 deaths in the county attributed to the virus since March 2020. The 21 victims announced Wednesday include people whose ages range from their 40s to 90s, and included residents of Dallas, Duncanville, Richardson, Grand Prairie, Glenn Heights, Irving, Garland, Carrollton and DeSoto.
COVID-19 VACCINE EFFORTS
In partnership with the stat health department, Dallas County 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. 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.
If you would like to register to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Dallas County, click here for more information.
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.
