Dallas County on Friday reported 1,849 more coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. Twenty new COVID-19 deaths also were reported.
This week has already been the county’s deadliest of the pandemic, County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement. Over the last three days alone, county officials have reported the deaths of 83 people from COVID-19.
Of the latest deaths, 12 were of Dallas residents. Those victims were six women — one in her 40s, two in their 50s, one in her 60s, one in her 80s and one in her 90s — and six men — two in their 60s, two in their 70s, one in his 80s and one in his 90s.
Three other victims lived in Mesquite — a man in his 50s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 90s. The five others were two DeSoto men, one in his 60s and one in his 80s; a Cedar Hill man in his 40s; a Grand Prairie woman in her 50s; and a Farmers Branch man in his 80s.
All had underlying health problems and had been hospitalized.
Of the new cases reported Friday, 1,353 were confirmed and 496 were probable. The newly reported cases brought the county’s total confirmed cases to 141,303 and probable cases to 14,922. The county has recorded 1,315 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 52 deaths probably caused by the disease.
The county recently announced it was counting only positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases; a few antibody and “household” results were included previously.
While other North Texas counties provide estimates for how many people have recovered from infections, Dallas County officials do not report recoveries, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use that metric.
Health officials use hospitalizations, intensive-care admissions and emergency room visits as key metrics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended Thursday, 791 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 501 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.
Statewide data
Across the state, 14,547 more coronavirus cases and 240 COVID-19 deaths were reported Friday.
On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services updated its COVID-19 dashboard to include probable cases in addition to confirmed ones. Of the newly reported cases, 11,842 were confirmed and 2,705 probable.
The cases added Friday were considered new except for 319 confirmed cases and 81 probable ones. In addition to the probable cases added Friday, the state’s newly minted probable case count includes 137,419 older cases.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we didn’t have antigen tests. The only tests that we had that could give us information about active, contagious infections were the molecular tests,” Jennifer Shuford, DSHS infectious disease medical officer, said in a video linked on the dashboard. “Since that time, though, many antigen tests have been developed and have become widely available, giving us another way to detect active, contagious infections in Texas.”
Texas has now reported 1,448,002 total coronavirus cases — 1,307,878 confirmed and 140,124 probable. The state’s death toll stood at 23,551.
There are 9,109 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 2,571 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The state also retired two methods it previously used to calculate its positivity rate. One method was based on when lab results were reported to the state, while the other was based on cases’ reported dates.
The state will continue to report positivity rates based on the date of test specimen collection, but it will now differentiate rates between molecular and antigen tests.
Molecular tests are what Dallas County officials refer to as confirmed cases. Antigen tests, which yield faster results but are not considered quite as accurate as molecular tests, are what the county’s health department calls “probable cases.”
“As we see more and more [antigen tests] done, we want to be able to see what the positivity rate for them looks like,” Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the state health department, said in another video. “These changes are a continuation of our commitment to provide the best and most accurate COVID-19 data possible.”
The positivity rate for molecular tests stood at 13.1% as of Wednesday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate. Also as of Wednesday, the positivity rate for antigen tests was 8.9%.
Tarrant County
Tarrant County on Friday reported 1,455 coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths. It was the county’s fifth straight day with double-digit fatalities.
Already this week, county officials have announced 75 COVID-19 deaths.
The latest deaths included six Fort Worth residents — a woman in her 20s, a man in his 50s, a man and two women in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s.
Five other Tarrant County victims lived in Mansfield — a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s, and two men and a woman in their 80s. Three more of the dead were Arlington men in their 60s, 70s and 80s.
The remaining six victims were a Hurst woman in her 50s, a Watauga woman in her 60s, a Crowley woman in her 70s, a North Richland Hills man in his 70s, a Benbrook woman in her 80s and a Grand Prairie woman in her 80s.
The newly reported cases brought the county’s total to 116,931 — 103,113 confirmed cases and 13,818 probable cases. There had been 84,318 recoveries. The death toll stood at 947.
According to Friday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 919 people were in hospitals with the virus.
Collin County
The state added 506 coronavirus cases to Collin County’s total Friday, bringing the tally to 31,269. Four new COVID-19 fatalities also were reported, bringing the county’s death toll to 295.
No details about the latest victims were available.
According to state data, the county had 3,987 active infections and had recorded 27,282 recoveries.
The county’s coronavirus dashboard provides only total hospitalizations, now at 351.
Denton County
Denton County reported a record 886 coronavirus cases — of which 684 were active — and four new deaths Friday.
Two of the latest victims were in long-term care facilities — a man in his 60s who lived at the Denton State Supported Living Center and a woman in her 80s who lived at Cross Timbers Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Flower Mound.
The newly reported cases brought the county’s total to 29,463, including 8,795 that were active and 20,503 that were recoveries. The death toll stood at 165.
The newly reported cases also raised the county’s total molecular cases to 24,815, while antigen cases stood at 4,648.
There were 131 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, according to the county’s data. Only 10 of the county’s 87 ICU beds were available.
Other counties
The Texas Department of State Health Services has taken over reporting for these other North Texas counties. In some counties, new data may not be reported every day.
The latest numbers are:
- Rockwall County: 4,627 cases, 42 deaths.
- Kaufman County: 6,919 cases, 96 deaths.
- Ellis County: 9,635 cases, 137 deaths.
- Johnson County: 7,959 cases, 126 deaths.
