Health officials in Tarrant County confirmed 1,702 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday along with another 11 deaths. Tarrant County Public Health is also reporting a record 1,168 people are hospitalized in the county with the virus.
In the last seven days, the county has announced 11,373 new cases of the virus. Of the 1,702 additional cases reported Wednesday, data from the county health department indicates there are 1,404 more confirmed cases than the most recent report and 298 more probable cases.
Tarrant County, which extended its mask mandate until Feb. 28, 2021, last month, began to report both probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in August at the request of the state health department. Probable cases, the county said, account for a variety of real-world situations and could highlight cases in the community that may otherwise go unreported.
To date, the county has reported 118,641 confirmed cases of the virus and 17,152 probable cases for a total of 135,793 cases.
COVID-19 Latest
With 1,389 deaths now attributed to the virus, COVID-19 is now projected to be the third-leading killer of Tarrant County residents behind cancer and heart disease and is expected to surpass the annual total for stroke later this year.
The 11 fatalities reported Wednesday included a woman from Arlington in her 90s, a woman from Keller in her 90s, a woman from Fort Worth in her 90s, a man from Mansfield in his 70s, a man from Fort Worth in his 70s, a man from Bedford in his 60s, a man from Fort Worth in his 60s, a woman from White Settlement in her 60s, a man from Arlington in his 50s, a man and woman from Mansfield in their 40s. All but three had underlying health conditions, according to Tarrant County Public Health.
Of the county's cases, 73% of those who have died were over the age of 65 even though they only make up 10% of the cases. Those aged 25 to 44 make up the largest percentage of people with COVID-19 at 34.2%.
The county also reported Wednesday another 1,439 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 99,752. There are an estimated 34,652 active cases in the county, more than twice as many as the estimated number of cases in Dallas County and the most of any North Texas county.
Health officials reported a record 1,168 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in county hospital beds -- a number has doubled in the last six weeks, from 515 on Nov. 5.
ICU beds in Tarrant County were also 97% occupied Wednesday, according to county data. It was unclear how many of those patients were hospitalized due to the coronavirus.
COVID-19 causes a respiratory illness with cough, fever and shortness of breath and may lead to bronchitis, severe pneumonia or even death. For more information go to coronavirus.tarrantcounty.com or call the Tarrant County Public Health information line, 817-248-6299, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
