Dallas County adds 2,809 cases of coronavirus, 5 COVID-19 deaths; 8 deaths in Tarrant, 6 in Collin

Updated at 6pm to include data from Dallas County.

Dallas County reported another 2,809 cases of coronavirus on Saturday, all new. Five new COVID-19 deaths have also been reported.

The most recent victims were a Dallas woman and a Grand Prairie man in their 50s, a Garland man in his 60s, a Dallas man and Dallas woman in their 80s. The older woman from Dallas lived in a long-term care facility and all of the victims were hospitalized and had underlying health conditions.

Dallas County also reported on Saturday the first known case of the new, more contagious coronavirus variant, called B.1.1.7. The case was traced to a man in his twenties who had no recent travel history, health officials said. He will remain in isolation until he is cleared by health officials.

Of the new cases reported on Saturday, 2,322 are confirmed and 377 likely. The newly reported cases bring the province’s total confirmed cases to 206 329 and probable cases to 26 919. The province recorded 1,858 COVID-19 deaths.

The province said it only considers positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as likely cases; some antibody and “household” results were previously included.

While other North Texas counties give estimates for how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas County officials do not report recovery, noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use that measure.

Health officials use hospitalizations, inpatient admissions and emergency visits as key statistics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the country. In the 24-hour period that ended Friday, 1145 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals across the country. During the same period, 524 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.

The province’s preliminary average of seven days of daily newly confirmed and probable cases for the January 3-9 reporting period was 2,545, or 96.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. This is a record high, health officials in the province said. The data are calculated on the date of the COVID-19 test collection.

Dallas County does not offer a positive percentage for all COVID-19 tests conducted in the area; provincial health officials said they do not have an accurate count of how many tests are done each day. But since the province’s most recent reporting period, 31.5% of people who showed up at hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for the virus. This is a slight increase compared to the previous reporting period, when 31.3% of patients tested positive.

Statewide data

Across the state, another 24,003 cases and 381 COVID-19 deaths were reported on Saturday. Texas has now reported 2,097,560 cases and 31,831 deaths.

Of the new cases, 20,530 were confirmed and 3,473 likely. The state reported 1,837,552 confirmed cases and 260,008 probable cases.

The state also added 487 parent confirmed cases and 167 parent probable cases recently reported by laboratories.

There are 13,929 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 3,931 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. According to the state panel, 23.55% of the patients in the hospital region covering the Dallas-Fort Worth area were COVID-19 patients.

The seven-day average positivity rate across the country for molecular tests, based on the date of collection of the test sample, was 17.045% as of Friday. State health officials said the use of data based on when people were tested provided the most accurate positivity rate.

For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 11.39%.

Tarrant county

Tarrant County reported 3,033 cases of coronavirus and eight new deaths on Saturday.

Details about the victims were not immediately available.

The newly reported cases bring the province to 190,886, including 165,131 confirmed cases, 25,755 probable cases and 136,190 recoveries. The death toll stands at 1,833.

According to Friday’s numbers on the provincial dashboard, 1,488 people are being admitted to hospital with the virus.

Collin county

The state added 768 coronavirus cases and six new COVID-19 deaths on Saturday. The province has now posted 62,571 cases and a death toll of 467.

No details about the latest victims were available.

Of the new cases, 639 were confirmed and 129 probable. Collin County recorded 54,209 confirmed cases and 8,362 probable cases. According to state data, the province has 5,822 active cases and recorded 48,387 recoveries.

The province’s coronavirus dashboard offers only total hospitalizations, now at 546.

Denton county

Denton County reported 459 cases of coronavirus – 447 of which are active – and no new deaths on Saturday.

The newly reported cases bring the province to 46,272, including 13,925 active and 32,098 recovered. They also increase the total molecular cases to 37,473 and antigen cases to 8,799.

The province’s death toll stands at 249.

Two hundred COVID-19 patients are admitted to the country.

Other provinces

The Texas Department of Public Health has taken over reporting for these other North Texas counties. In some provinces, new data is not reported every day.

The latest numbers are:

• Rockwall County: 8,222 cases (6,873 confirmed and 1,349 probable), 73 deaths.
• Kaufman County: 11,450 cases (9,962 confirmed and 1,488 probable), 149 deaths.
• Ellis County: 16,403 cases (14,457 confirmed and 1,946 probable), 196 deaths.
• Johnson County: 14,435 cases (12,872 confirmed and 1,563 probable), 205 deaths.