The Tarrant County Department of Public Health confirms 5,991 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, along with another 18 new deaths. Until Sunday, TCPH also reports that about 1,200 people are hospitalized in the municipality with the virus and that the ICU occupancy rate is 96%.
In the past seven days, the municipality announced 11,410 new cases of the virus or an average of 1,375 per day. The county health department did not report data on the COVID-19 case from December 24 to 26. Of the 5,991 additional cases reported on Monday, county health department data indicate that there are 5,441 more confirmed cases than the most recent report and 550 more likely cases.
The last 18 victims included people in Arlington, Bedford, Fort Worth, Haltom City, Hurst and Richland Hills. Further details are not yet available.
Tarrant County, which extended its mask mandate until February 28, 2021, last month, began reporting probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in August, at the request of the state health department. Probable cases, the county said, are responsible for a variety of real-world situations and can highlight cases in the community that would otherwise not be reported. To date, the county has reported 125,947 confirmed cases of the virus and 18,054 probable cases for a total of 144,001 cases.
The health department reported until Sunday that 1,175 COVID-19 patients were occupying hospital beds in the county, which represents almost 26% of the county’s capacity. TCPH reported that 82% of the beds are occupied in the municipality and 96% of the ICU beds are occupied in the municipality.
The county is also reporting another 4,420 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 105,531. There are currently about 37,045 active cases in the county, most of any county in northern Texas.
With 1,425 deaths now attributed to the virus, COVID-19 is now projected to be the third leading killer of Tarrant County residents, behind cancer and heart disease, and is expected to exceed the annual total of strokes later this year.
COVID-19 causes a respiratory illness with cough, fever and shortness of breath and can cause bronchitis, severe pneumonia or even death. For more information, go to coronavirus.tarrantcounty.com or call the Tarrant County Public Health information line, 817-248-6299, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.