Seven Additional COVID-19 Deaths in Dallas, Including DeSoto Resident

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Dallas COUNTY COVID infographic

Dallas County Reports 152 Additional COVID-19 Cases

DALLAS —  Dallas County Health and Human Services reports 152 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This brings the total confirmed case count in Dallas County to 74,628 including 964 confirmed deaths. The total number of probable cases in Dallas County is 3,320, including 10 probable deaths from COVID-19. Of the 152 new cases we are reporting today, 72 came through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) system and are all from collection dates in September. Please see a provisional breakdown below of these newly reported cases by date of collection:

Month

# of positive patients

September

72

 

The additional 7 deaths being reported today include the following:

  • A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She expired in an area hospital ED, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
  • A pregnant woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She expired in an area hospital ED, and did not have other underlying high risk health conditions. 
  • A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Wilmer. He was found deceased at home, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
  • A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased at home, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
  • A woman in her 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She was found deceased at home, 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 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased at home, and had underlying high risk health conditions.

Provision 7 Day Average Is Slightly Higher Than Last Week

The provisional 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 35 was 277, slightly increased from the previous CDC week 34’s daily average of 238. The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 remains high with 10.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 35.

A provisional total of 156 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 35 (week ending 8/29/2020), a continued increased trend from the previous two weeks for this age group. Over the past 2 weeks, 31 cases of COVID-19 have been reported associated with multiple youth hockey teams in the DFW area, including 5 coaches. One 29-year old hockey coach was reported to have had COVID-19 at the time of his death last week in an adjacent county.

There were 354 COVID-19 patients in acute care in Dallas County for the period ending on Wednesday, September 9. The number of emergency room visits for COVID-19 like symptoms in Dallas County was 490 for the 24 hour period ending on Wednesday, September 9. This 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.

Additionally, included into today’s release is an updated R0 chart from UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). R0, pronounced “R naught,” is a mathematical term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease is. It is also referred to as the reproduction number. R0 tells you the average number of people who will contract a contagious disease from one person with that disease. For example, if a disease has an R0 of 18, a person who has the disease will transmit it to an average of 18 other people. By contrast, If R0 is less than 1, each existing infection causes less than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out.

R0 graph Dallas County

Judge Jenkins Says Dallas County Is Watching R0 Closely

“Today I’m sad to report the death of seven more county residents from COVID-19, including a pregnant woman in her 40s without other high risk health conditions. These deaths bring our total of confirmed COVID-19 deaths since March to 964. Today we report an additional 152 cases, all of which we categorize as new cases. All the cases from the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system we received today were tests from September.

Hopefully the number of positive cases today will begin a trend back lower as we’ve seen a rise in the last week of COVID-19 positive cases and the latest R0, pronounced R naught, seen in the UTSW chart show that our R0 may have recently gone above 1, which may lead to outbreaks and an increase in the number of cases in our community. A R0 score above one means there are more people getting sick from COVID-19 than just replacing those who have been sick. We and doctors of course will be watching all of these factors very closely.

Everyone has a role to play and it’s very important that you and everyone you have influence over wear their mask one hundred percent of the time when they’re around others outside the home, maintain six foot distance, wash hands frequently, avoid unnecessary trips, and avoid trips where masks cannot be worn one hundred percent of the time. If we all keep our resolve up, we can lower the infection rate and keep more people from getting sick, more businesses open, and get more kids back into school faster,” 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