Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Dallas County health officials confirmed 43 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, a number much lower than the near triple-digit daily totals seen coming from the county health department recently.
The county now has a total number of 1,155 confirmed COVID-19 patients. The county will reveal more information about the new cases, including what cities the patients live in, in an aggregate report released on Tuesday.
Monday afternoon Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned against reading too much into the new numbers, saying several private labs doing COVID-19 testing were closed on Palm Sunday.
In a meeting with the Dallas County Commissioner's Court on Friday, Jenkins showed a model projecting the COVID-19 curve to hit a peak in Dallas County on April 20. However, Jenkins added in his statement Monday that the county's Safer-at Home order, which he extended last Friday until April 30, appears to be working to flatten the curve.
“Please continue adherence to the Safer-at-Home order to help save lives. When you venture out, please consider wearing a cloth covering to protect your neighbors from your droplets and remember, cloth coverings are only 10-15% effective at protecting you. You must still maintain safe distancing of a minimum of six feet to stay safe," Jenkins said. "Your actions are critical for us to defeat COVID-19, save lives, and get back to normal life as soon as we can.”
Wearing a mask in public, health official caution, is only a prophylactic and is not a replacement for staying at home.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
