Health officials in Dallas County on Sunday reported 3,303 additional cases of COVID-19 and six coronavirus-related deaths — data reported from Thursday, Friday and Saturday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Of the cases reported Sunday, 3,083 were confirmed and 220 were probable, which means an antigen test confirmed the result. Since March, Dallas County Health and Human Services has reported 126,006 confirmed cases and 12,090 probable cases, or those confirmed by antigen tests.
The six people who died after contracting COVID-19 included a Dallas woman in her 40s, Dallas man in his 50s, Mesquite man in his 50s, Dallas man in his 60s, Dallas man in his 80s and Dallas man in his 90s, according to the county.
All had underlying high risk health conditions and had been hospitalized or critically ill in a hospital.
Dallas County has reported 1,209 confirmed deaths related to the coronavirus and 32 probable deaths.
The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported an estimated number of recoveries on its site and lists 102,362 for Dallas County as of Sunday, Nov. 29.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said that the numbers reported Sunday — spread out over three days, are lower than the last week's average, which he said indicates fewer people getting tested. Testing facilities were closed on Thursday and Friday.
"We’ll have more accurate numbers again on Tuesday and Wednesday and begin to see any effects from the Thanksgiving holiday by next Friday and into the weekend with a full realization of any uptick manifesting itself by the following weekend," Jenkins said. "In the meantime, it’s important that we continue to look for things to be thankful for and keep our spirits up."
Dallas County's provisional seven-day average of new cases, which uses the date of the test collection, for Week 46 was 1,405 new cases per day, a rate of 53.3 daily new cases per 100,000 residents — the highest case rate in the county since the beginning of the pandemic. The previous week's average was 1,078.
In the last 30 days, there have been 20 active clusters of cases in congregate living facilities, such as homeless shelters and group homes, which have amounted to 167 cases including 81 confirmed cases at one facility in the last week. The county did not specify which facility was experiencing the outbreak.
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A provisional total of 1,282 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in school-aged children last week — a threefold increase from the week ending Oct. 10, according to DCHHS.
Since Nov. 1, there have been 130 cases of COVID-19 in children and staff from 97 daycares in Dallas County, and 3,630 cases in K-12 students and staff from 632 schools in the county.
Of all confirmed coronavirus cases requiring hospitalization, more than two-thirds have been under 65, DCHHS said. Diabetes has been an underlying health condition in about one-third of all hospitalized patients.
Twenty-three percent of COVID-19-related deaths have been associated with long-term care facilities. There have been more than 818 cases reported from 90 separate long-term care facilities, including 309 staff, in the last 30 days — the highest number in these types of facilities with active outbreaks since March, according to the county.
Of those cases, 48 people have been hospitalized and 29 people, including two staff members, have died.
