After reporting another death and 504 additional cases of coronavirus, the Dallas County Health Department is raising the perceived COVID-19 risk level to red Wednesday. NBC 5’s Meredith Yeomans reports.
The Dallas County Health Department is reporting another 382 cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus Monday, sending the total number of cases since March over 90,000.
Of the 382 cases reported, 331 were confirmed and 51 were probable, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services. DCHHS said 263 of the cases came from the DSHS backlog including two from September and 261 from earlier this month.
"We’re seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases in our hospitals and in positive testing and now is a critical time for us to get the numbers going back in the right direction," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. "We know what we need to do, we just need to do it. Wear your mask and avoid crowds. Maintain six-foot distancing and use good hand-washing practices. It’s up to all of us to flatten the curve and the best way to do that is to follow the advice of doctors that can be found at dallascountycovid.org."
The county has now accumulated 90,318 confirmed cases of the virus since testing began in March. No new deaths were reported Monday; there have been 1,085 confirmed deaths attributed in the county to the virus, which, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang, is now the third leading cause of death in the county behind diseases of the heart and cancers.
County health officials said Friday the 7-day average for CDC Week 41 was 453, an increase from the previous daily average of 383 from Week 40. The county also said that 390 school-aged children were confirmed or probable during that same week, an increase of 32% for this age group over the previous week.
COVID-19 TRACKING AND TESTING
Last week, Jenkins advised North Texans to avoid trick-or-treating this year, and other similar events, and called them a possible super-spreader activity.
"As we approach the Halloween holiday with cases increasing, it’s important that families make responsible decisions to do things within the family unit and not come into contact with many people outside their home. Doctors strongly encourage all residents to forgo trick or treating, trunk or treating, and Halloween parties and instead focus on candy hunts, Halloween themed family parties or movie nights, pumpkin carving and other things that can be done with the people that you live with. We must get this under control now or we are in for a rough holiday season and winter when the weather forces more people indoors which increases the chance of COVID-19 spread. We can do this North Texas but it’s up to each and every one of us. You’ve brought the numbers down twice before and you can do it again,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said earlier this week that voting in person in Dallas County is safe and that the county has spent millions of dollars on disinfectants, plexiglass screens and other precautions to ensure that voters are safe. Voters can also see a live, color-coded map showing the approximate wait times at polling locations in Dallas County so that they can see which polls are least crowded and where voting can be done quickly. See the map here.
