Dallas County on Wednesday reported 2,292 more coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. Fifteen new COVID-19 deaths were also reported.
Meanwhile, 11,992 Texans were hospitalized with the virus Wednesday, setting another record.
In Dallas County, the latest victims include eight Dallas residents — a man in his 20s, three women in their 50s, a man and woman in their 70s, and a man and woman in their 90s.
Four more victims lived in Mesquite — a man in his 50s, a man in his 60s and two women in their 70s. The others include an Irving woman in her 40s, a Garland man in his 60s and a Cedar Hill woman in her 70s.
All but two of those who died had underlying health problems. Two lived in long-term care facilities.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins urged county residents to keep the high COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers in mind when planning how to mark New Year’s Eve.
“If you haven’t already, please rethink your New Year’s plans and celebrate with only those in your immediate household and avoid high-risk locations like bars or restaurants,” Jenkins said in a written statement.
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 Tuesday, 989 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 659 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.
“We have limited ICU bed availability — only 16 adult ICU beds for a county of 2.7 million residents. And these beds are not solely for COVID patients, but other acute illnesses, traumas and acute surgery recovery,” Jenkins said.
Of the new cases reported Wednesday, 1,965 are confirmed and 327 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 170,747 and probable cases to 20,797. The county has recorded 1,611 COVID-19 deaths.
The county has said it is 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 the virus, Dallas County officials do not report recoveries, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use that metric.
The county’s provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases for the Dec. 13-19 reporting period was 1,787. That number, which is calculated by the date of the test collection, is the most the county has averaged at any point during the pandemic, Jenkins said.
The county reported that over the last 30 days, there have been 5,971 cases reported in school-age children and staff from 756 K-12 schools in Dallas County.
Dallas County doesn’t provide a positivity rate for all coronavirus tests conducted in the area; county health officials have said they don’t have an accurate count of how many tests are conducted each day. But as of the county’s most recent reporting period, 26.5% of people who showed up at hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for the virus. That’s an increase from the previous reporting period, when 23.3% such patients tested positive.
Statewide data
Across the state, 21,056 more cases and 326 COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday. Texas has reported 1,737,447 total cases and 27,088 fatalities.
Of the new cases, 17,458 were confirmed and 3,598 were probable. The state has reported 1,536,265 confirmed cases and 201,182 probable cases.
The state also added 308 older confirmed cases and 105 older probable cases that were recently reported by labs.
There are 11,992 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals — a new statewide record — including 3,660 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The seven-day average positivity rate statewide for molecular tests, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 18.74% as of Tuesday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.
For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 10.38%.
Tarrant County
Tarrant County reported 1,609 coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths Wednesday.
The latest victims include 12 Fort Worth residents — a man and woman in their 30s, a woman in her 60s, four women and a man in their 70s, a woman in her 80s, and a man and two women in their 90s.
Three more victims lived in Arlington — a woman in her 70s and two men in their 80s. The others were a Benbrook man and a Sansom Park woman in their 70s, an Azle woman and Hurst man in their 80s, and a North Richland Hills woman who was over 100 years old.
The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 146,888, including 128,610 confirmed cases, 18,278 probable cases and 107,676 recoveries. The death toll stands at 1,468.
According to Wednesday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 1,374 people are hospitalized with the virus. The county’s adult ICU occupancy rate is at 97%, while its total bed occupancy rate stands at 87%.
Collin County
The state added 560 coronavirus cases and eight COVID-19 deaths to Collin County’s totals Wednesday. The county has now posted 47,747 cases and a death toll of 365.
No details about the latest victims were available.
Of the new cases, 480 were confirmed and 80 were probable. Collin County has recorded 42,873 confirmed cases and 4,884 probable cases. According to state data, the county has 4,354 active cases and has recorded 38,519 recoveries.
The county’s coronavirus dashboard provides only total hospitalizations, now at 551.
Denton County
Denton County reported 591 coronavirus cases — of which 527 are active — and three new deaths Wednesday.
The latest deaths include a man in his 70s who lived at Senior Care at Denton Post Acute Care, a man over age 80 who lived at Rambling Oaks Courtyard in Highland Village and a Carrollton man over age 80.
The death at the Denton facility, also known as Brinker Denton Senior Care Center or Senior Care Health and Rehabilitation Center, is its 10th reported by county officials this month. Denton County Public Health previously announced the deaths of three residents on Dec. 16 and six more the next day.
The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 38,547, including 12,721 that are active and 25,617 that are recoveries. They also raise the county’s total molecular cases to 31,722 and antigen cases to 6,825.
The county’s death toll stands at 209.
A record 222 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, the county reports.
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: 6,114 cases (5,094 confirmed and 1,020 probable), 50 deaths.
- Kaufman County: 9,166 cases (8,010 confirmed and 1,156 probable), 116 deaths.
- Ellis County: 12,893 cases (11,365 confirmed and 1,528 probable), 167 deaths.
- Johnson County: 10,861 cases (9,623 confirmed and 1,238 probable), 154 deaths.
