The Tarrant County Public Health Department confirms 1,894 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday along with another 10 new deaths.
The latest victims of the virus include a man from Fort Worth in his 80s, a woman from Arlington in her 80s, two men from Arlington in their 70s, a man and a woman from Fort Worth in their 70s, a man and three women from Fort Worth in their 50s. Seven of the individuals had underlying health conditions.
In the last seven days, the county has announced 9,686 new cases of the virus. Of the additional cases reported Thursday, data from the county health department indicates there are 1,611 more confirmed cases than the most recent report and 283 more probable cases.
Tarrant County, which extended its mask mandate until Feb. 28, 2021, last week, began reporting 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 93,592 confirmed cases of the virus and 12,083 probable cases for a total of 105,675 cases.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
COVID-19 Latest
The county is also reporting another 1,034 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 74,266. There are currently an estimated 30,545 active cases in the county, the most of any North Texas county.
Of the county's cases, 70% 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 36%.
The health department reports 884 COVID-19 patients are currently occupying hospital beds in the county on Thursday -- about 18% of capacity and a slight increase of three patients compared to Wednesday. TCPH data shows 706 ventilators on hand with 426 being available; of the 280 in use, it's not clear how many are in use by COVID-19 patients.
With 864 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.
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.