The Tarrant County Public Health Department confirms another 752 cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus Wednesday along with nine new deaths, bringing the county's total number of confirmed and probable cases of the virus to more than 76,800.
The latest victims of the virus include a woman from Fort Worth in her 80s, a woman from Bedford in her 70s, a man and woman from Fort Worth in their 70s, a woman from Arlington in her 70s, a man from Fort Worth in his 70s, a man and woman from Fort Worth in their 60s, and a man from White Settlement in his 50s. All had underlying health conditions.
Of the 752 additional cases reported Wednesday, data from the county health department indicates there are 684 more confirmed cases than the day before and 68 more probable cases.
Tarrant County began reporting both probable and confirmed cases 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 68,726 confirmed cases of the virus and 8,112 probable cases for a total of 76,838 cases.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
COVID-19 TRACKING u0026amp; TESTING
The county is also reporting another 748 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 59,023. There are currently an estimated 17,038 active cases in the county, the most of any North Texas county.
Of the county's cases, 71% 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 37%.
The health department reports 673 COVID-19 patients are currently occupying hospital beds in the county on Wednesday -- about 13% of capacity and 107 more than were hospitalized on Monday.
According to the DFW Hospital Council, on Tuesday there were currently 1,916 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in North Texas' Trauma Service Area E which represents 12.4% of DFW-area hospital beds; 32.8% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients. Patients in the Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Grayson and Ellis counties represented 92.9% of the patients in TSA E.
With 777 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.
