For the 3rd week in a row, Dallas County has hit a record death toll from COVID-19, but the number of cases is dropping

Dallas County reported 1,424 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, as well as another 42 deaths from COVID-19 – making it the most lethal pandemic week to date.

The last victims were between 50 and 90 years old, but a Dallas man in his 30s also died. Nineteen of the victims were residents of Dallas, four were from Richardson and three lived in Grand Prairie, Irving and Lancaster. Two lived in Garland, Mesquite and Rowlett each, and one was from Carrollton, Coppell, DeSoto and Sunnyvale.

Three of the victims – a Grand Prairie woman in her 70s, a Richardson woman in her 80s and a woman in Dallas in her 90s – were known to have no underlying high-risk health conditions.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement that officials knew that January and February would be “difficult months” because of the high number of cases and holidays in the previous months.

“The good news is that these numbers of cases are decreasing, hospitalizations are decreasing and we are vaccinating thousands of northern Texans every day,” said Jenkins.

Of the new cases, 1,153 were confirmed and 271 were likely. The numbers bring the county’s total cases to 265,311 – 233,353 confirmed and 31,958 probable. The death toll is 2,397.

During the first six days of the week, Dallas County announced 218 deaths, after reporting 183 over the previous week. This total surpassed the record of 138 the previous week.

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 ended on Thursday, 832 patients with COVID-19 were in intensive care at hospitals in the municipality. During the same period, 444 visits to the emergency room were for symptoms of the disease.

According to state data, 175,402 people in Dallas County received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 46,388 are fully vaccinated.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said on Friday that the city will receive 5,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine to distribute next week by appointment only.

Texas

Across the state, another 14,556 cases were reported on Friday – 13,951 new cases and 605 older cases that were recently reported by the labs.

The state also recorded 401 deaths from COVID-19, bringing its number to 38,128.

Of the new cases, 10,410 were confirmed and 3,541 were probable. Of the oldest cases, 411 were confirmed and 194 were likely.

The new notified cases raise the state total to 2,462,886 – 2,143,353 confirmed and 319,533 probable.

There were 10,259 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 2,737 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As of Thursday, 16.0% of patients in the region of the hospital that covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area were patients with COVID-19 – above the 15% limit that the state has used to define high hospitalizations.

The seven-day average positivity rate across the state for molecular testing, based on the date of collection of the test sample, was 13.2% on Thursday. For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 5.8%. A molecular test is considered more accurate and is sometimes also called a PCR test; an antigen test is also called a rapid test. Governor Greg Abbott said a positivity rate above 10% is a cause for concern.

According to state data, 2,214,644 people in Texas received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 668,743 are fully vaccinated.

Tarrant County

Tarrant County reported 1,394 coronavirus cases and 81 deaths on Friday.

Most of the victims were 60 or older. Thirty-four were residents of Fort Worth and 13 lived in Arlington. Four were from Watauga, three each lived in the city of Haltom, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills and Saginaw. Two were from Crowley, Lake Worth and White Settlement, each lived in Azle, Bedford, Colleyville, Grand Prairie, Hurst, Mansfield and Sansom Park, and five were from unincorporated areas. All 81 had underlying high-risk health conditions.

Tarrant County has reported a higher death toll on Fridays because of when the state provides death certificate data.

Of the new cases, 1,201 were confirmed and 193 were likely. The numbers bring the county’s total cases to 226,793 – 193,869 confirmed and 32,924 probable. The death toll is 2,387.

According to the city, 967 people were hospitalized with the virus until Thursday.

According to the state, 122,829 people in Tarrant County received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 32,956 are fully vaccinated.

Collin County

The state added 615 cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths to the total in Collin County on Friday.

No details about the latest victims were available.

Of the new cases, 439 were confirmed and 176 were likely. The numbers bring the county’s total cases to 76,091 – 64,872 confirmed and 11,219 probable. The death toll is 618.

According to the city, 405 people were hospitalized with the virus.

According to the state, 68,545 people in Collin County received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 19,856 are fully vaccinated.

Denton County

Denton County reported 483 cases of coronavirus on Friday. No additional deaths were reported.

New reported cases bring the county’s total cases to 56,303 – 44,054 confirmed and 12,249 probable. The death toll is 344.

According to the municipality, 184 people were hospitalized with the virus.

According to the state, 34,867 people in Denton County received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 11,728 are fully vaccinated.

The Denton County Public Health vaccination center at Texas Motor Speedway continued to vaccinate thousands of people on Friday. The authorities were aiming to administer 31,500 doses over three days this week. After cancellations and no shows, the county administered 9,100 doses on Tuesday and 9,000 on Thursday and was on track to distribute the same amount on Friday afternoon.

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: 9,774 cases (8,101 confirmed and 1,673 likely), 107 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 13,585 cases (11,764 confirmed and 1,821 likely), 187 deaths.
• Ellis County: 19,356 cases (16,913 confirmed and 2,443 likely), 247 deaths.
• Johnson County: 17,250 cases (15,105 confirmed and 2,145 likely), 288 deaths.

The team’s editor, Charles Scudder, contributed to this report.