Dallas County is reporting another record day of new COVID-19 cases Monday with 1,831 confirmed and probable cases added.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said, "Today's number marks a doubling of the number that was the daily average for new cases for CDC Week 45 which was our most recent CDC week but lags by about seven days."
Jenkins added that over the last five days, Dallas County has added about 5,000 new COVID-19 cases. In the first two of those five days, the total number of cases was below 500.
"This is indicative of the explosive nature of the spike that we are now in and it is imperative to public health and our economy that we stop the in-home get-togethers and trips to restaurants and bars that are largely responsible for this spike," Jenkins said.
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Monday's 1,831 cases are a new single-day record for new cases that are not part of a backlog or data dump. The previous record was set on Saturday when 1,454 cases were reported.
Last week Jenkins warned that without drastic change the county would be above 2,000 cases per day on average before Thanksgiving.
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Of the cases reported Monday, the county said 1,695 were confirmed cases and 136 were probable (antigen test) cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county from March to 110,717 and the number of probable (antigen test) cases to 9,998. None of the new cases were reported to be part of a backlog and, rather, indicate all currently active cases in the county.
The latest victim of the virus is a man in her 80s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in Dallas who had been hospitalized in the ICU for the disease and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
County officials said Monday there have been 1,143 confirmed deaths in the county attributed to the virus and another 20 probable deaths. In the summer, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang said COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death in the county behind diseases of the heart and cancers.
Dallas County is expected to release hospital data on Tuesday. Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen to record levels in North Texas with the Texas Department of State Health Services reporting 2,143 hospitalizations on Monday.
The DFW Hospital Council's number for Monday is a little higher at 2,219 patients -- that's to be expected with the DSHS reporting generally lagging behind by a day. COVID-19 patients in DFW represent 14.4% of available beds and 35% of ICU patients, according to the council.
Statewide, the DSHS said there are more than 7,400 Texans hospitalized with the virus on Monday.
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The county added that the provisional 7-day average for new confirmed and probable cases by date of a test collection for CDC week 45 has increased to 958, which is a rate of 37.4 daily new cases per 100,000 residents -- up 7.4 from the week before. During the same week, a provisional total of 843 confirmed and probable cases were diagnosed in school children between the ages of 5 and 17 -- an increase of 37% from the week before.
"While the choice is yours on how you conduct yourself, it is not fair to say that the risk you take is yours and yours alone as the impact of increased exposure for individuals has an impact on others," Jenkins said.