Dallas County reports 2,817 coronavirus cases, 24 deaths; Tarrant County adds 2,350 cases, 38 deaths – The Dallas Morning News

Grim numbers from the pandemic continued to mount across North Texas and the state on Friday.

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

For the third straight day, Texas reported at least 400 deaths from the virus. And the North Texas area of Dallas, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Rockwall and Tarrant counties has tallied 5,001 deaths overall.

Eleven of the latest Dallas County victims were Dallas residents: 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 their 80s. One of the men in their 70s and the woman in her 80s lived at long-term care facilities.

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

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

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

County Judge Clay Jenkins said thousands of people had been vaccinated every day this week. He noted that vaccinations at the Fair Park megasite will be administered by appointment only beginning Saturday; eligible residents may register online at dallascounty.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination.php or by calling the county’s hotline at 469-749-9900.

Of the new cases reported Friday, 2,153 are confirmed and 664 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 203,897 and probable cases to 26,542. The county has recorded 1,853 total COVID-19 deaths.

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

While other North Texas counties provide estimates for 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 that metric.

Health officials use hospitalizations, intensive-care admissions and emergency room visits as key metrics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended Thursday, 1,140 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 518 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.

Statewide data

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

Of the new cases, 21,343 were confirmed and 4,991 were probable. The state has reported 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. On Thursday, 23.6% of patients in the hospital region covering the Dallas-Fort Worth area were COVID-19 patients, according to the state dashboard.

The seven-day average positivity rate statewide for molecular tests, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 17.4% as of Thursday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.

For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 11.9%.

Tarrant County

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

County officials said Friday’s higher number of deaths — 38 — stems from when the Texas Department of State Health Services releases death-certificate data. The number of deaths reported on Fridays will be greater for that reason, the county said.

Seven of the deaths were from this month, while 31 were from December.

Nineteen of the victims were Fort Worth residents: a man in his 40s, three men in their 50s, three men and two women in their 60s, three men and three women in their 70s, two men in their 80s; and a man and a woman older than 90.

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

The other victims were three Bedford residents — a man and a woman in their 80s and a woman older than 90; two Mansfield residents — a man in his 60s and a woman older than 90; two North Richland Hills women in their 80s; an Azle man in his 50s; a Lakeside man in his 70s; and a Watauga man in his 70s.

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

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

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

Collin County

The state added 524 coronavirus cases and 10 new COVID-19 fatalities to Collin County’s totals Friday. The county has now posted 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 probable. Collin County has recorded 53,570 confirmed cases and 8,233 probable cases. According to state data, the county has recorded 47,659 recoveries.

The county’s coronavirus dashboard provides only total hospitalizations, now at 546.

Denton County

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

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

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

The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 45,816, including 13,794 that are active and 31,773 that are recoveries. They also raise total molecular cases to 37,193 and antigen cases to 8,623.

The county’s death toll stands at 249.

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

Other counties

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

The latest numbers are: