Dallas County officials reported 800 new cases and the county's 605th death related to the coronavirus on Sunday.
The additional death was a Dallas man in his 40s who had been critically ill with the coronavirus in an area hospital. The man had underlying high-risk health conditions.
The lower case total Sunday came a day after health officials announced a record-high number of cases — 1,267.
Sunday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the record number on Saturday reflected a technical glitch that caused a surge of positive tests which should have been reported days earlier.
"That was 400 additional tests that should have been reported over the four or five days before then," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the county discovered the problem after noticing a discrepancy between the number of tests performed at community-based testing sites and the numbers reported.
"We inquired on that. We found out these tests were not being accurately sent to us from the state system due to a glitch and that’s what we got yesterday," Jenkins said. "Unfortunately, what we don’t know is if there are any other labs that are stuck in that glitch and how that glitch is occurring at this state."
The numbers reported on Sunday were more consistent with the numbers Dallas County saw for four days prior to Saturday.
"Yesterday is probably an anomaly," Jenkins said. "Today is probably a more accurate number that we’re below 1,000 now."
The cases reported Sunday lowered the seven-day average in Dallas County to 792 new cases per day, down from 1,085 one week ago, but up from 413 on June 25.
Dallas County has 46,813 cases of the coronavirus and 605 confirmed deaths.
Dallas County does not report recoveries from COVID-19 because it lacks the manpower to follow up with thousands of patients, however, the Texas Department of State Health Services posts an estimated number of recoveries on its site and lists 28,260 for Dallas County as of Sunday, July 26. Using data supplied by the county and state, there are an estimated 15,900 active COVID-19 cases in the county.
COVID-19 is the third-leading cause of death in Dallas County behind heart disease and cancers, according to DCHHS.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
