Dallas County Prohibits Gatherings Of Over 500 People
Dallas- At a 10 PM news conference called by Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins announced five new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 or novel coronavirus. Out of the five, at least one patient has no travel history indicating that Dallas County has community spread. Two of the five are being treated in a hospital. The other three individuals are self isolated at home.
Information provided on the individuals: a woman in her 70’s, a man in 40’s, a man in 50’s, a man in his 60’s, and a woman in 60’s. One of the individuals lives in Balch Springs, and the others live in the city of Dallas.
“I have filed this evening a declaration of local disaster for public health emergency, and I’m issuing a community gathering order effective 11AM tomorrow, March 13th, prohibiting community gatherings of more than 500 people,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
The #coronavirus is easily spread in group settings. To protect the the most vulnerable members of the community, we are prohibiting community gatherings of 500 persons or more. Read below for more details. https://t.co/7EuobArXft
— Dallas County HHS (@DCHHS) March 13, 2020
The order goes into effect at 11AM Friday, and continuing until 11AM on March 20th (unless extended), public or private community gatherings with 500+ attendees in a single open space are prohibited in Dallas County.
The declaration order excludes places like schools, movie theaters, or office towers, since there are multiple “separate enclosed spaces” within the building.
DCHHS Social Distancing Recommendations pic.twitter.com/Yl0xcRSTKQ
— Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) March 13, 2020
For more information, visit Dallas County Health and Human services website.
Contact Information
Inquiries from the general public may be made to 972-692-2780 between the hours of 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Monday – Friday.
