More than 30,000 Texans died of coronavirus; Dallas County reports 3,549 cases

Updated at 4:20 pm: Revised to include state data.

Dallas County reported a single-day record of 3,549 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, along with 14 additional deaths. Meanwhile, the number of Texans killed by the virus has exceeded 30,000, according to state data.

Hospitalizations in Dallas County and across the state have also set new records, with the latest number reaching 14,000 for the first time.

Nine of the last people who died in Dallas County lived in Dallas: a woman in her 40s, three men and two women in her 60s, two men in her 70s and a man in her 80s. The other victims were two residents of Highland Park, a man in his 60s and a woman in his 70s; two Mesquite men, in their 50s and 60s; and a DeSoto man in his fifties.

All 14 had underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk of complications from the virus, officials said.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement that northern Texans are now at “the most difficult time for the spread of COVID”. He said that residents need to help limit the spread to ensure that healthcare professionals can administer vaccines as quickly as possible.

“Activities that seemed safe to you weeks ago are much less safe now,” he said. “The task of maintaining security and spreading COVID rests with all of you.”

The previous daily high of new cases in Dallas County, 3,194, was reported on Saturday.

Of the new cases registered on Tuesday, 2,979 were confirmed and 570 probable. New reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 197,359 and probable cases to 25,276. The county recorded 1,791 deaths in total COVID-19.

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 infections, Dallas county officials do not, 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 indicators to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended on Monday, a record 1,226 patients with COVID-19 were in intensive care at hospitals in the municipality. During the same period, 462 visits to the emergency room were for symptoms of the disease.

State data

Across the state, an additional 26,052 cases and 286 deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday. Of the cases added, 25,301 were new and 751 were the oldest recently reported by the laboratories.

Texas has already reported 1,995,292 total cases and 30,219 deaths.

Of the new cases, 22,110 were confirmed and 3,191 were probable. The state notified 1,753,059 confirmed cases and 242,233 probable cases.

There was a record of 14,218 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 4,158 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. On Monday, 25.7% of patients in the region of the hospital that covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area were patients with COVID-19, according to the state panel.

The statewide seven-day average positivity rate for molecular tests, based on the date of collection of the test sample, was 18.4% on Monday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate rate of positivity.

For the antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 12.3%.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 1,817 cases of coronavirus and 30 new deaths on Tuesday.

Nine of the latest victims lived in Fort Worth: two men and a woman in her 60s, two men in her 70s, three men in her 80s and a woman in her 90s. Another eight were from Arlington: a woman in her 60s. 60, a man and two women in their 70s, a man in their 80s and a man and two women in their 90s.

The other victims were four Mansfield women, two in their 60s, one in their 70s and one in their 90s; two North Richland Hills residents, a man in his 60s and a woman in his 90s; an Azle man in his 90s; a Bedford woman in her 90s; a Burleson man in his 70s; an Euless man in his 70s; a man from Haltom City in his 70s; a Richland Hills man in his 70s; and a White Settlement man in his 80s.

All but one had underlying high-risk health conditions, health officials said.

The new reported cases bring the county total to 180,794: 156,876 confirmed cases and 23,918 probable cases. There were 128,406 recoveries. The death toll was 1,762.

According to Tuesday’s figures on the county panel, 1,469 people were hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 1,098 cases of coronavirus and six new deaths from COVID-19 to the total for Collin County on Tuesday. The county has reported 58,968 cases and 428 deaths.

No details about the latest victims were available.

Of the new cases, 692 were confirmed and 406 were likely. Collin County recorded 51,840 confirmed cases and 7,128 probable cases. According to state data, the municipality recorded 45,846 recoveries.

The county coronavirus panel provides only the total number of hospitalizations, now at 561.

Denton County

Denton County reported 579 cases of coronavirus – of which 542 were active – on Tuesday.

No new deaths were reported, leaving the county’s death toll at 237.

The new reported cases have raised the county total to 44,158, including 13,495 active and 30,426 in recovery. They also increased the total molecular cases to 35,964 and the antigen cases to 8,194.

There were 222 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals, the county said.

Other counties

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

The last numbers are:

• Rockwall County: 7,782 cases (6,517 confirmed and 1,265 likely), 61 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 10,975 cases (9,581 confirmed and 1,394 probable), 144 deaths.
• Ellis County: 15,676 cases (13,833 confirmed and 1,843 probable), 187 deaths.
• Johnson County: 13,401 cases (11,941 confirmed and 1,460 probable), 187 deaths.