Health officials in Dallas County on Saturday reported 982 additional cases of COVID-19 and four coronavirus-related deaths in an update that included data through Wednesday.
The numbers are the first the county has released since Wednesday because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Saturday's update included data processed through late Wednesday evening, and Sunday's numbers will include data from Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the county.
Of the cases reported Saturday, 739 were confirmed and 243 were probable, which means an antigen test confirmed the result. Since March, Dallas County Health and Human Services has reported 122,923 confirmed cases and 11,870 probable cases, or those confirmed by antigen tests.
The four people who died after contracting COVID-19 included a Lancaster man in his 60s who had been hospitalized, a Dallas man in his 70s who had been critically ill in a hospital, and two DeSoto residents — man and woman both in their 80s— who had been critically ill in the hospital, according to the county.
All four had underlying high risk health conditions.
Dallas County has reported 1,204 confirmed deaths related to the coronavirus.
The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported an estimated number of recoveries on its site and lists 101,435 for Dallas County as of Friday, Nov. 27.
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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.
A provisional total of 1,224 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 years old, 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 850 cases reported from 84 separate long-term care facilities, including 304 staff, in the last 30 days — the highest number in these types of facilities with active outbreaks since March, according to the county.
The county also said that there have been 90 cases of COVID-19 reported from more than 14 separate congregate-living facilities, including 22 staff and one death of a staff member.
