DALLAS — As of 12:00 pm January 12, 2021 Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 3,549 additional positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dallas County, 2,979 confirmed cases and 570 probable cases. There is a cumulative total of 197,359 confirmed cases (PCR test). There is a cumulative total of 25,276 probable cases (antigen test). A total of 1,791 Dallas County residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19 illness.
Fourteen 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 50’s who was a resident of the City of Desoto. He had been hospitalized and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. 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 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 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 Dallas. 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 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 60’s who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. 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 Highland Park. 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 Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Highland Park. She 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 Dallas. He 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 Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high risk health conditions.
Dallas County Has Highest Rate New Cases Per 100K Residents
The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 53 was to 2,104, which is a rate of 79.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents—the highest case rate in Dallas County since the beginning of the pandemic. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high, with 31.0% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 53 (week ending 1/2/21). Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 3,864 healthcare workers and first responders have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Dallas County.
There were 1,226 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Monday, January 11. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 462 for the same time-period, which represents around 25 percent of all emergency department visits in the county according to information reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council.
This is another record high for hospitalizations. We are concerned we have not yet seen the full impact of the holiday surge. UTSW modeling predicts hospitalization could reach 1,150 – 1,870 by January 19, with cases as high as 3,500/day by the same date. Their model also indicates an increase in ICU utilization, which is concerning as capacity is extremely limited at current demand.
Dallas County Reports Highest Single Day New Cases
“Today we report 3,549 additional new COVID cases. This is over 350 cases higher than we have ever reported in a single day. Additionally, there are 14 deaths to report. We are in our toughest time for COVID spread. Activities that seemed safe to you weeks ago are much less safe now. Much focus is on vaccine now, as it should be, but the job of ensuring orderly and rapid vaccination falls on a few of us in emergency response and healthcare. The job of keeping safe and keeping the spread of COVID down falls on all of you.
Please do your part to help our healthcare heroes help you. Wear your mask, wash your hands, and think of ways to avoid other people outside of your family and those you must be around at your job. You can do this by exercising outside, rather than indoors at a gym or other setting, staying out of restaurants and bars for now and supporting them through pickup or delivery, doing your shopping online, for curbside pick-up or delivery, and any other ways to keep you and your family, and by extension our community and our country stronger, until a vaccine can have its effect,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
