Tarrant County Public Health is reporting 346 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday with 16 new deaths as the county's 7-day and 14-day averages once again begin to drop.
Of the 346 cases reported Wednesday, data from the county health department indicates 330 cases are confirmed while 16 cases are probable.
The latest victims include a man from Fort Worth in his 90s, three women from White Settlement in their 80s, a woman from Southlake in her 80s, a woman from North Richland Hills in her 80s, a man and woman from Arlington in their 70s, a man from Richland Hills in his 70s, a woman from Fort Worth in her 70s, a woman from Fort Worth in her 60s, two men from Fort Worth in their 60s, a woman from Bedford in her 60s, a man from Fort Worth in his 50s and a man from Haltom City in his 30s. All had underlying health conditions except the Bedford resident.
The county began reporting both probable and confirmed cases earlier this month 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 37,020 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,802 probable cases for a total of 38,822 cases.
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After jumping to 587 cases per day Tuesday, the 7-day average dropped to 578 per day on Wednesday; the 14-day average dropped for the third straight day to 499 cases per day. The averages for both had been trending down last week before a backlog of cases in recent days.
The county is also reporting more than 402 new estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 31,094. There are currently an estimated 7,250 active cases in the county.
Of the county's cases, 70% of those who have died were over the age of 65. Those aged 25 to 44 make up the largest percentage of people with COVID-19 at 38%.
The number of hospital beds reported to be occupied by COVID-19 patients Monday was 362, down from 655 a month ago.
With the recent changes to their reporting system, Tarrant County Public Health said changes have also been made to their online dashboard, most notably to the Case Counts tab and Cases by Location tab. The Case Counts tab now includes cases reported by week, including both probable and confirmed, while the Cases by Location tab includes a map showing the 30-day average infection rate by ZIP code.
