Dallas County reports 2,817 coronavirus cases, 24 deaths; Tarrant County adds 2,350 cases, 38 deaths

The pandemic’s gloomy numbers continued to rise in northern Texas and the state on Friday.

Dallas County announced 2,817 new cases of coronavirus and a further 24 deaths from COVID-19. But the daily death count was significantly higher in Tarrant County, where 38 deaths and 2,350 cases were reported.

For the third consecutive day, Texas has reported at least 400 deaths from the virus. And the area of ​​Dallas, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Rockwall and Tarrant counties in northern Texas recorded 5,001 deaths in total.

Eleven of the last victims in Dallas County were residents of Dallas: two men in their 40s, two women in their 50s, two women in their 60s, two men and a woman in their 70s and a man and a woman in the 80s. One of the men in their 70s and the woman in their 80s lived in long-term care facilities.

Another eight lived in Mesquite: a man in his 40s, a man in his 50s, a woman in his 60s, two men and a woman in his 70s, a woman in her 80s and a man in her 60s 100. The man in his 50s, the woman in his 60s, one of the men in his 70s, the woman in her 80s and the man in her 100s lived in long-term care facilities.

The other victims were two Garland men in their 70s; two Irving residents, a woman in her 50s who lived in a long-term care facility and a man in her 70s; and a Balch Springs man in his 50s.

Everyone except the Balch Springs man and one of the Dallas men in their 70s had health problems that put them at high risk for complications from the virus, officials said.

County judge Clay Jenkins said thousands of people were vaccinated every day this week. He noted that vaccinations at the megasite Fair Park will be administered by appointment only from Saturday; Qualified residents can register online at dallascounty.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination.php or by calling the county hotline at 469-749-9900.

Of the new cases reported Friday, 2,153 are confirmed and 664 are likely. New reported cases bring the total confirmed cases in the county to 203,897 and probable cases to 26,542. The municipality recorded 1,853 total 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 indicators to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period ending on Thursday, 1,140 patients with COVID-19 were in intensive care at hospitals in the municipality. During the same period, 518 visits to the emergency room were for symptoms of the disease.

State data

Across the state, an additional 27,204 cases and 400 deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Friday, including 26,334 new cases and 870 older cases that were recently reported by the labs. Texas now reported 2,072,903 total cases and 31,450 deaths.

Of the new cases, 21,343 were confirmed and 4,991 were probable. The state notified 1,816,535 confirmed cases and 256,368 probable cases.

There are 13,953 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 3,988 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As of Thursday, 23.6% 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 seven-day average positivity rate across the state for molecular testing, based on the specimen’s collection date, was 17.4% on Thursday. 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 11.9%.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 2,350 cases of coronavirus and 38 deaths on Friday.

County officials said the highest number of deaths on Friday – 38 – came from when the Texas State Department of Health Services released death certificate data. The number of deaths reported on Fridays will be higher for this reason, the municipality said.

Seven of the deaths occurred this month, while 31 occurred in December.

Nineteen of the victims were Fort Worth residents: one man in his 40s, three men in his 50s, three men and two women in his 60s, three men and three women in his 70s, two men in his house 80 years old; and a man and woman over 90 years old.

Nine more lived in Arlington: a man in his 40s, a man in his 50s, a man in his 60s, two men in his 70s, a woman in her 80s and two men and a woman over 90.

The other victims were three Bedford residents – a man and a woman in her 80s and a woman over 90; two Mansfield residents – a man in his 60s and a woman over 90; two women from North Richland Hills in their 80s; an Azle man in his fifties; a Lakeside man in his 70s; and a Watauga man in his 70s.

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

The 2,350 new cases reported in Tarrant County bring the total to 187,863, including 162,386 confirmed cases, 25,477 probable cases and 132,350 recoveries. The death toll is 1,825.

According to Friday’s figures on the county panel, 1,488 people are hospitalized with the virus.

Collin County

The state added 524 cases of coronavirus and 10 new fatal cases of COVID-19 to the total for Collin County on Friday. The county has already registered 61,803 cases and a death toll of 461.

No details about the latest victims were available.

Of the new cases, 288 were confirmed and 236 were likely. Collin County recorded 53,570 confirmed cases and 8,233 probable cases. According to state data, the municipality recorded 47,659 recoveries.

The county coronavirus panel provides only the total number of hospitalizations, now at 546.

Denton County

Denton County reported 471 cases of coronavirus – 437 of which are active – and 12 new deaths on Friday.

Four of the latest victims were residents of Carrollton: a man in his 70s and a man and two women over 80. One of the women was a resident of Atria Senior Living.

The other victims were a man from the Colony over 80, a Corinth woman over 80, a Denton woman in her 60s, a man in Flower Mound over 80 who lived in Avanti Senior Living, a a Frisco woman over 80 who lived in Mustang Creek Estates, a Krum man over 80, a Little Elm man in his 70s and a woman in his 60s who lived in unincorporated Denton County.

The new reported cases bring the county total to 45,816, including 13,794 active and 31,773 in recovery. They also increase the total molecular cases to 37,193 and the antigen cases to 8,623.

The death toll in the county is 249.

There are 208 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized, reports the county.

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: 8,129 cases (6,798 confirmed and 1,331 probable), 69 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 11,393 cases (9,926 confirmed and 1,467 probable), 149 deaths.
• Ellis County: 16,269 cases (14,352 confirmed and 1,917 likely), 192 deaths.
• Johnson County: 14,259 cases (12,727 confirmed and 1,532 probable), 203 deaths.