Jenkins Says Actual Numbers Much Higher With At Home Rapid Tests
“Today we have 2,422 lab tested COVID cases and 19 deaths. It is increasingly important that you keep in mind that none of the home tests are included in these numbers. With home tests becoming more and more frequent, these numbers will be significantly lower than the true picture in our county. We’ve seen a near doubling of COVID-19 hospitalization for each of the last two weeks in Dallas County hospitals. In response to this growing epidemic our team worked over the Christmas holidays to stand up more mega testing sites.
Today, Amelia court clinic at Parkland open for drive-through appointment, only testing and tomorrow at noon Ellis Davis fieldhouse near highway 20 in south Dallas will open for drive-through testing and could be able to accomplish about 2000 tests a day, with appointments being preferred. Thursday, Samuel Grande aquatic center will open for appointment, only testing drive-through testing. We already had test sites at Richland college and at Mountain view college and are working on opening a large test site at Fair Park the week after next.
More Testing Sites Could Be Added
We will continue to add resources and sites for testing. For the fastest service, it’s good to get an appointment at the site you choose. The appointment links can be found here: https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/testing-locations.php.
With an unprecedented amount of Americans getting sick from COVID every day now and with the Omicron variant being able to defeat a cloth mask, and in fact, people who have been vaccinated and boosted (although with comparatively mild or symptoms), it’s imperative that we wear a surgical, KN95, or N95 mask whenever we are around people outside our home in indoor settings, out around people, outside our home or at outdoor settings where spacing cannot be accomplished. These next few weeks during this Omicron surge is the time to think about avoiding crowds and using online, curbside, remote work, and other tools to keep you and your family safe.,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
68% Of Cases Diagnosed In Unvaccinated Patients
About 68.0% of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Week 50 were Dallas County residents who were not fully vaccinated. In Dallas County, 21,890 cases of COVID-19 breakthrough COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated individuals have been confirmed to date, of which 779 (3.6%) were hospitalized and 208 have died due to COVID-19.
Of all Dallas County residents tested for COVID-19 by PCR during the week ending 12/25/2021 (CDC week 51), 24.3% of respiratory specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The flu is also circulating in the DFW area, in week 51, area hospital labs report elevated numbers and proportions of respiratory specimens that are positive for other respiratory viruses by molecular tests: parainfluenza (5.48%), rhinovirus/enterovirus (26.85%) and RSV (5.31%).
The 19 additional deaths being reported today include 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.
- A man in his 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He expired in hospice and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. He expired in an area hospital ED and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. He 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 woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired in hospice and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He expired at home and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Richardson. He expired in hospice and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. She expired in an area hospital ED and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Lancaster. He expired in the facility and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Cedar Hill. He expired in hospice and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Garland. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
