coronavirus

Tarrant County Adds 3 Deaths, 585 Coronavirus Cases After Holiday Break in Reporting

Tarrant County has reported 14,008 cases, 236 deaths and 5,618 recoveries

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After a two day hiatus in reporting, Tarrant County Public Health has updated its COVID-19 dashboard to include an additional 585 new cases and three deaths.

The county had not reported any new cases on Friday or Saturday because of the Fourth of July holiday, and said the new numbers added Sunday only reflected cases reported through Thursday.

Cases reported between Friday and Sunday will be reflected in Monday's count, according to the health department.

The three people who died were residents of Arlington, Mansfield and White Settlement. Additional details about the deaths had not been released.

New cases were added in Arlington, Azle, Bedford, Benbrook, Blue Mound, Burleson, Colleyville, Crowley, Euless, Everman, Forest Hill, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Haltom City, Hurst, Keller, Lake Worth, Mansfield, North Richland Hills, Pantego, River Oaks, Saginaw, Sansom Park, Southlake, Watauga, White Settlement and unincorporated Tarrant County. Of the cases, 45 have not been assigned a city.

Between Wednesday and Saturday, the county saw an increase in the percentage of occupied hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients from 8% to 11%, the highest the number has been.

Of the 5,683 available hospital beds in the county, 3,874 beds, or 68%, were occupied as of Saturday.

Since April, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the county has been creeping up. On April 1, there were 129 confirmed patients in the hospital and 55 were in ICU beds. On Saturday, that number was at 533 confirmed patients and 139 in ICU beds.

The percentage of occupied hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients crept back up to 14% on Saturday, tying Wednesday for the highest the number has been. The percentage had dipped down to 12% on Thursday.

As of Friday, Cook Children's hospital tested 6,531 people for COVID-19 and 317 tested positive -- a positivity rate of 4.85%.

The Federal Medical Center Fort Worth, which houses inmates who are older or who have underlying health conditions, reported its 12th death related to the coronavirus.

Robert Hague-Rogers had been negative for the virus following tests on April 21 and 23, but began having shortness of breath and was seen by health services staff April 27.

He was taken to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation. Hague-Rogers never tested positive for the coronavirus, but had a positive antibody test, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Tracking COVID-19 Cases in North Texas Counties

NBC 5 is tracking the number of COVID-19 related cases, recoveries and deaths in North Texas counties. Choose a county and click on a city or town to see how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting your area.

Cases are cumulative by day and are subject to change, dependent on each county health department's reporting schedule and methodology. Data may be reported county-wide, by city or town, or not at all. Cases, recoveries and death counts in 'unspecified' categories are used as placeholders and reassigned by their respective counties at a later date.

Data: County Health Departments, NBC 5 Staff
Nina Lin/NBC

Hague-Rogers, who had long-term pre-existing medical conditions, died Friday, officials said.

He had been sentenced to 120-months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement from an employee benefit plan and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Hague-Rogers had been at the Fort Worth prison since may 9, 2013.

The facility currently houses 1,351 male inmates. Of the 823 inmates who have been tested for the coronavirus, 597 have tested positive and 580 have recovered, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Twenty inmates and two staff members have open cases.

It is not clear whether all the cases at the prison are included in Sunday's total provided by the county's health department.

On Sunday, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said on a Zoom call with NBC 5 that the National Guard would be pulling out of the county this week.

"By next Sunday, the National Guard will be pulling out and I think that is a federal decision and we are going to do everything we can this week to see if we can't get with some private organizations to see if we can't elicit their help in doing the testing," said Whitley said.

Whitley added that he planned to increase the city's contact tracing programs to more accurately track the amount of COVID-19 cases.

The county judge said he was concerned by the amount of people that he sees out, but was encouraged by the number of people he sees wearing masks. He said he hoped the numbers would start to plateau, or even decrease, in the next couple weeks.

"Wearing that mask I really believe is a good way to protect you from me and me from you," Whitely said. "I really hope everyone will bear that inconvenience and be publicly responsible for not only the folks around them but to also make sure they aren't carrying it back home to a family member or grandparent."

A free testing center is set to open in Fort Worth's Stop Six Neighborhood Monday through Wednesday. Tests will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at Maude I. Logan Elementary School.

Testing is free and no appointment is required. The person being tested must have access to a telephone due to test results being returned by phone call or text message.

The test site is operated by the state of Texas in partnership with the city of Fort Worth Emergency Operations Center.

Tarrant County has reported 14,008 cases, 236 deaths and 5,618 recoveries.


*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.


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