DALLAS — As of 3:00 pm October 28, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 624 additional positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dallas County for a cumulative total of 94,837 confirmed cases (PCR test), including 1,104 confirmed deaths.
There are 145 additional probable cases (antigen test) to report today for a total of 5,558 probable cases including 14 probable deaths. Of the 479 new confirmed cases we are reporting today, 346 came through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) system, and all are from October.
|
Month |
# of positive patients |
|
October |
346 |
The additional 3 deaths being reported today include the following:
- A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.
The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 42 was 588 — the highest daily average of new cases since July. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has increased to 14.2% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 42 (week ending 10/17/20). A provisional total of 493 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 42 – about twice the numbers of children diagnosed in this age group 3 weeks earlier (CDC week ending 9/26/2020).
Local health experts use hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ER visits as three of the key indicators as part of determining the COVID-19 Risk Level (color-coded risk) and corresponding guidelines for activities during our COVID-19 response. There were 498 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Tuesday, October 27.
The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 485 for the 24 hour period ending on Tuesday, October 27, which represents around 20 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. We know historically from the increase over the summer, that hospitalizations can rise rapidly and take months to decline.
“As our numbers continue to climb, I’ll remind you that we know what we need to do, we just need to do it: wear your mask and avoid crowds. Please make sure to have a safe Halloween and forgo trick-or-treating and Halloween parties this year for family activities. The number of school-aged children with COVID-19 has doubled over the last three weeks from 251 cases to 493 new cases (see Table 12) and this is a reminder of the importance of keeping our community safe by keeping our children safe and avoiding crowds and promoting masking.
The most recent medical models indicate that we’ll have above 1,000 new cases per day by Thanksgiving unless we change our behavior, push through the COVID fatigue, and go back to doing the things that we know will keep us safe. We don’t want to get into the holiday season when it gets colder, more people are inside, and there are more gatherings with people outside our home, during an extremely high COVID spike or we will be in for a bad holiday season and spring. Let’s all band together now and move from selfishness to sacrifice to put our families, our community and our economy in a safer, better place,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
All Dallas County COVID-19 Updates and Information can be found here: https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/ and all guidance documents can be found here: https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/guidance-health.php
Specific Guidance for the Public:
· Dallas County COVID-19 Related Health Guidance for the Public
· Dallas County Guidance for Individuals at High-Risk for Severe COVID-19
