Health officials in Dallas County on Saturday reported a single-day record of 2,842 new COVID-19 cases and 23 more deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
Saturday's case number eclipsed the previous high of 2,512, which Dallas County Health and Human Services reported on Dec. 23.
Tarrant County also reported a single-day high on Saturday.
Of the cases reported Saturday in Dallas County, health officials said 2,312 were confirmed cases and 530 were probable (antigen test) cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county from March to 174,477 and the number of probable (antigen test) cases to 21,683. The total of confirmed and probable cases in the county is now at 196,160. Over the last seven days, Dallas County officials have reported 15,354 new confirmed and probable cases of the virus.
The data reported Saturday included numbers processed Thursday, according to a DCHHS spokesperson. The county will report numbers for both Friday and Saturday on Sunday.
The 23 latest victims ranged in age from their 30s to their 90s and include 11 people who were found dead at home and a Dallas man in his 40s who was found dead in a park. The remaining 11 people died in hospitals or long-term care facilities, according to DCHHS.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the 23 deaths reported Saturday were spread out over several weeks as autopsies and other prerequisites for their announcement took time to complete.
County officials said Saturday there have been 1,651 deaths in the county attributed to the virus. In the summer, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang said COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death in the county behind diseases of the heart and cancers.
The county said that the provisional 7-day average for new confirmed and probable cases by date of a test collection for CDC week 51 was 1,787, which represents a rate of 67.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents.
In the last 30 days, there have been 5,971 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from more than 756 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County, including 569 staff members. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 21 school nurses have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
"January and perhaps February will likely be our highest months of hospitalizations," Jenkins said in a statement. "We need everyone’s help to keep the numbers as manageable as possible to ensure that there is adequate medical care for everyone who needs it for any condition, not just COVID."
In Dallas County, there were 988 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 through Friday, while 24% of emergency room visits Friday were for people reporting symptoms of COVID-19.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
