While saying it's
possible state's system is losing some recent cases, Jenkins finds hope in
falling hospitalization rate.
By Catherine Marfin and Tom
Steele 2:28 PM on Aug 26, 2020 — Updated at 5:51 PM on Aug 26, 2020
Updated at 5:50 p.m.: Revised
to include statewide numbers
Dallas County health officials reported 578 new COVID-19
cases Wednesday, the majority of which came from the state’s backlog, along
with nine deaths.
Of the new cases, 424 came from a backlog
caused by coding issues in the state’s reporting system. The backlog added
six cases from March, 116 from April, 271 from May and 31 from June.
The most recent victims include two Dallas residents, a man
in his 40s and a woman in her 80s, and two residents of long-term care
facilities in Lancaster, a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 70s.
The remaining victims were a Wilmer man in his 40s, an
Irving woman in her 50s, a Farmers Branch woman in her 60s, a Mesquite man in
his 60s and a Richardson man in his 60s.
Dallas County has now had 69,881 confirmed cases of the
virus, including 890 deaths. The county said there are also 2,746 probable
cases and eight probable deaths. Dallas County does not report a number of recoveries.
Statewide, 5,045 new cases and 229 deaths were reported
Wednesday, raising the state’s totals to 592,137 confirmed cases and 11,805
deaths from COVID-19.
There are 4,806 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals,
including 931 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to the state’s data. The
seven-day average of positive tests across Texas is 13.5%, above the 10%
threshold that Gov. Greg Abbott has said is cause for concern.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said that even with the backlog,
Dallas County is continuing to trend in the right direction.
“Unfortunately, it is possible that the state is also losing
cases that were done recently and not reporting those cases timely, but we can
look at hospitalizations and other factors … and see that the trends are moving
in a positive direction,” he said in a written statement.
Health experts have said that hospitalizations and ICU
admissions are more valuable than case counts in measuring the course of the
outbreak. On Tuesday, 408 people were hospitalized with the virus, and 491
people visited emergency rooms with COVID-19 symptoms, making up about 20% of
all ER visits in the county.
County health officials also cautioned that the number of
school-age children getting sick with the virus is still high — 531 kids ages 5
to 18 tested positive for the coronavirus Aug. 1-14. About half of those cases
were among high-school students, the majority of whom are believed to be
enrolled in Dallas ISD, based on their ZIP code of residency, health officials
said.
Jenkins emphasized that residents should continue to wear
masks in public, social distance and avoid nonessential errands to continue the
downward trend in cases.
He also noted that residents along the Texas coast, some
of whom have evacuated and are taking shelter in Dallas-Fort Worth hotels,
will not put the county at any risk of further COVID-19 spread.
“The people fleeing Hurricane Laura are no more likely to
have COVID-19 than members of the general population anywhere in Texas, and the
services that we’ll provide to them, including COVID-19 testing, will be done
from our excess capacity, so no one in Dallas County will be denied a COVID-19
test or services due to the services being provided to our neighbors from the
Texas
Tarrant
County
Tarrant County reported 199 new cases of the virus
Wednesday, along with five deaths.
The most recent victims were an Arlington man and woman in
their 50s, a Fort Worth man in his 60s, a Watauga woman in her 70s and a
Bedford woman in her 90s.
The county has now reported 40,530 cases of the virus,
including 524 deaths. Of the case total, 2,079 are considered probable,
officials said.
A total of 314 patients are hospitalized, and 34,173 people
have recovered.
Collin
County
Officials in Collin County did not report any coronavirus
cases or deaths Wednesday.
The county’s totals remain at 10,474 confirmed cases, with
105 deaths and 5,709 recoveries. Eighty-three patients are hospitalized.
The county has said that it “lacks confidence” in the case
numbers being provided by the Department of State Health Services. DSHS is
looking into the issue, County Judge Chris Hill has said, but the county’s case
dashboard said there is no timeline for that process.
Denton
County
Denton County health officials reported 138 additional
positive coronavirus tests Wednesday.
No new deaths were announced, leaving the county’s COVID-19
toll at 98.
The county has had 9,544 confirmed cases of the virus,
including 7,370 recoveries. Forty-four patients remain hospitalized.
Other
counties
The Texas Department of State Health Services has taken over
reporting for many North Texas counties, and some may not report updates each
day.
The latest numbers are:
·
Rockwall
County: 1,284 cases, 21 deaths
·
Kaufman
County: 2,705 cases, 33 deaths
·
Ellis
County: 3,670 cases, 55 deaths
·
Johnson
County: 2,451 cases, 42 deaths
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