COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to break records in Dallas County

Updated 19h45: Revised to include information on the area’s hospital capacity.

Dallas County reported another 1,129 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, all of which were considered new. Sixteen new deaths from COVID-19 have also been announced.

Meanwhile, the state reported that a record 11,775 Texans were hospitalized with the virus on Tuesday.

Dallas County’s latest victims included nine Dallas residents: a man in his 30s, two men in his 40s, a man in his 60s, two men and a woman in her 70s and a man and a woman in the 80s. All were hospitalized and all, except the woman in her 80s, had underlying health problems.

A Dallas woman in her 50s died at home and had underlying health problems.

Two residents of Garland were among the dead: an 18-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman, both hospitalized in critical condition. The man had latent chronic medical conditions; not the woman.

The remaining victims were a Mesquite woman in her 50s, a Carrollton man in her 60s, a Richardson man in her 70s and a Hutchins man in her 70s. All were seriously ill in the hospital and had underlying health problems.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said COVID-19 hospitalizations are at a record high, while availability of ICU beds in the county is at a record level.

“Currently, 1 in 4 people hospitalized in Dallas County has COVID and approximately 30% of people hospitalized in the region have COVID,” said Jenkins in a written statement. “With UT Southwestern projections indicating that our number of hospitalizations for COVID will increase dramatically by January 5, it is imperative that we all make small and smart sacrifices to keep ourselves and our community as healthy as possible in this high season. spread. “

Of the new cases registered on Tuesday, 882 are confirmed and 247 are likely. The new reported cases bring the total confirmed cases in the county to 168,782 and the probable cases to 20,470. The county recorded 1,596 COVID-19 deaths.

The county said it is counting only positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases; some antibody and “household” results have been included previously.

While other counties in northern Texas provide estimates of how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas county officials do not report recoveries, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use this metric.

Health officials use hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and visits to emergency rooms as key metrics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period ended on Monday, 1,018 patients with COVID-19 were in intensive care at hospitals in the municipality – a record. During the same period, 557 visits to the emergency room were for symptoms of the disease.

As of Tuesday, only 31 intensive care beds for adults were available in Dallas and Tarrant counties, according to data provided by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council. In Dallas alone, there were more than 300 beds available at the start of the pandemic.

In a tweet, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said that in the city’s 25 hospitals, 71% of beds – or 4,170 out of 5,911 – are occupied until Tuesday. He also said that 46% of the city’s fans – or about 479 of 1,035 – are in use.

On Monday, Jenkins warned that if UT Southwestern’s forecast for hospitalizations – by 1,500 by Jan. 5 – turns out to be accurate, the ICU beds will be full and some patients will receive “less than ideal” care.

The county reported that, in the last 30 days, 5,971 cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in schoolchildren and employees of 756 schools in Dallas County. Since March, 21 school nurses have tested positive for COVID-19.

There are 102 outbreaks of active COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, the highest number since the pandemic began, the county said. Of the total COVID-19 deaths in the county, about 22% are associated with long-term care facilities.

Also on Tuesday, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department announced that Sheriff Marian Brown will receive the COVID-19 vaccine this week.

“I trust the health care system it provides for people in our custody,” said Brown in a written statement. “I hope that, as I follow my journey to get the vaccine, it will encourage someone to get it too.”

State data

Across the state, 31,278 more cases and 241 deaths from COVID-19 were reported Tuesday. Texas has already reported 1,715,978 total cases and 26,762 deaths.

Of the new cases, 26,990 were confirmed – a record – and 4,288 were likely.

A note on the state panel said that some of the cases included in Tuesday’s totals were from earlier days, as some counties did not report COVID-19 data during the holiday weekend.

The state has already notified 1,518,499 confirmed cases and 197,479 probable cases.

The state also added 1,030 oldest confirmed cases and 244 oldest probable cases that were recently reported by laboratories.

There are 11,775 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals – a new record – including 3,619 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As of Tuesday, 23.64% of patients in the region of the hospital covering the D-FW area were patients with COVID-19.

The seven-day average positivity rate across the state for molecular testing, based on the date of collection of the test sample, was 17.154% on Monday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate rate of positivity.

For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 11.05%.

Elsewhere in Texas, US Renal Care, which provides treatment for people with kidney disease, announced on Tuesday that some Texas clinics would receive monoclonal antibody therapy to treat patients with COVID-19.

The drug, known as Bamlanivimab, is manufactured by Eli Lilly and was obtained through the federal Operation Warp Speed ​​program. Monoclonal antibody drugs use antibodies made in the laboratory that mimic antibodies naturally produced in the body.

The FDA granted emergency use of Bamlanivimab on November 9. The drug is used to treat mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 in patients over 12 who are not hospitalized.

Data recently published in New England Journal of Medicine found that the drug can reduce hospitalizations of high-risk patients with mild to moderate cases of the virus. According to the CDC, people with chronic kidney disease are among those most at risk for serious illnesses if they receive COVID-19.

“Having the ability to deliver monoclonal antibody therapy to high-risk positive COVID-19 patients at our clinics – where they already receive dialysis treatment three times a week – can reduce hospitalizations and save lives,” Dr. Mary Dittrich, director physician of US Renal Care, said in a written statement.

It was not clear which clinics in Texas will receive the drug.

In addition to Texas, clinics in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland and New Mexico will also receive initial shipments of the drug.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 1,278 cases of coronavirus and 23 new deaths on Tuesday.

The latest deaths include seven Fort Worth residents: a woman in her 90s, a woman and two men in her 80s, a man in her 70s, a man in her 60s and a man in her 30s.

Four Bedford residents were among the victims: a woman in her 90s, two men in her 80s and a woman in her 70s.

Three Mansfield residents also died: two women in their 80s and a man in their 50s. Two Crowley men were also included, a man in his 70s and a man in his 50s. Two of the victims were from Hurst, a man in his 90s and a woman in his 70s.

The remaining five victims were a Keller man over 100, a Grapevine man in his 80s, two Benbrook men in his 70s and an Euless woman in his 60s.

The new reported cases bring the county total to 145,279, including 127,256 confirmed cases, 18,023 probable cases and 106,644 recoveries. The death toll is 1,448.

According to Tuesday’s figures on the county panel, 1,323 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 1,179 coronavirus cases to the Collin County total on Tuesday, bringing the count to 47,197. Six new COVID-19 fatalities have also been reported, bringing the county’s death toll to 357.

No details about the latest victims were available.

Of the new cases, 897 were confirmed and 282 were likely. Collin County recorded 42,393 confirmed cases and 4,804 probable cases.

According to state data, the municipality has 4,506 active cases of the virus and recorded 37,887 recoveries.

The county coronavirus panel provides only the total number of hospitalizations, now at 539.

Denton County

Denton County reported 835 cases of coronavirus – 747 of which are active – and eight new deaths on Tuesday.

The latest deaths include a man and woman over 80 who lived at Cedar Crest Senior Living in Lewisville. Other victims were a Lewisville woman in her 80s, a woman from The Colony in her 70s, a man in her 70s from Denton County in the unincorporated northwest, a 60 year old woman from Northeastern Denton County not corporate, a man in his 50s from southeastern Denton unincorporated County and a man from Carrollton in his 40s.

Recently reported cases bring the county total to 38,094, including 12,502 active and 25,386 in recovery. They also raise the total number of molecular cases to 31,269, while antigen cases reach 6,825.

The death toll is 206.

There are 217 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized, according to city data.

Other counties

The Texas Department of Health Services has taken over the reports for these other northern Texas counties. In some counties, new data may not be reported every day.

The last numbers are:

• Rockwall County: 6,011 cases (5,005 confirmed and 1,006 probable), 50 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 8,985 cases (7,840 confirmed and 1,145 probable), 115 deaths.
• Ellis County: 12,665 cases (11,164 confirmed and 1,501 probable), 163 deaths.
• Johnson County: 10,665 cases (9,449 confirmed and 1,216 likely), 150 deaths.

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