Dallas County Reports 767 Additional COVID Cases

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UTSW COVID forecast graph

DALLAS — As of 12:00 pm November 13, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 767 additional positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dallas County, 499 confirmed cases and 268 probable cases. There is a cumulative total of 106,287 cases (PCR test), including 1,140 confirmed deaths. There is a cumulative total of 9,596 probable cases (antigen test), including 20 probable deaths.

The additional death being reported today includes the following:

  • A woman in her 40’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.

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 44 has increased to 779, which is a rate of 30.0 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 14.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 44 (week ending 10/31/20). A provisional total of 608 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 44, an almost two-fold increase from the numbers of children diagnosed in this age group 4 weeks earlier (CDC week ending 10/3/2020).

21% Of All Emergency Visits Have COVID-19 Symptoms

There were 596 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Thursday, November 12. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 567 for the same time period, which represents around 21 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. We continue to see additional increases and the forecasting from UTSW predicts potential for record high hospitalizations. We must curtail activities like social gatherings, and going to bars and restaurants, to reduce risk of spread. Please follow the public health advice for the high risk level, and stay home.

“Today we added 767 new cases and one new death to our COVID totals. Attached is an updated slide showing that our compliance as a community has dropped in the latest medical model from 63% to 56%. This raises our R-naught score or replication factor from 1.09% to 1.25%. This is a dramatic increase in the spread and replication of COVID.

It calls for swift action on all of our part. I’m asking businesses to institute telecommuting to the fullest extent possible, and in doing so, talk to your employees about the importance to public health, the company, and the economy of avoiding crowds, forgoing the Black Friday shopping throngs, celebrating Thanksgiving with the people that you live with and not going to bars and indoor dining experiences or having get-togethers in friend’s homes.

It won’t always be like this but it will be like this for a little while longer. According to the DFW Hospital Council we are already at 94% of our peak hospital census from July and staring down the barrel of a medical model that indicates without drastic change we’ll be above 2000 cases per day on average before Thanksgiving. Now is the time to turn it around. The decisions you make today will determine the numbers in the coming days. Everyone, we’ve done it before and we can do it again. North Texas is up to the challenge but we’ve got to wear the mask and avoid the crowds and renew our unselfish commitment to each other and to public health,” 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