The Tarrant County Public Health Department confirms another 925 cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus Tuesday along with five new deaths, bringing the county's total number of confirmed and probable cases of the virus to more than 76,000.
The latest victims of the virus include a man from North Richland Hills in his 80s, a man from Fort Worth in his 60s, a woman from Bedford in her 60s, a man from Arlington in his 50s and a man from Fort Worth in his 20s. All had underlying health conditions.
Of the 925 additional cases reported Tuesday, data from the county health department indicates there are 850 more confirmed cases than the day before and 75 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 68,042 confirmed cases of the virus and 8,044 probable cases for a total of 76,086 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 361 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 58,275. There are currently an estimated 17,043 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 628 COVID-19 patients are currently occupying hospital beds in the county on Tuesday -- about 12% of capacity and 62 more than were hospitalized on Monday.
According to the DFW Hospital Council, there are 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 are occupied by COVID-19 patients. Patients in the Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Grayson and Ellis counties represent 92.9% of the patients in TSA E.
With 768 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.
