In the past two days, there have been an additional 3,851 cases of COVID-19 in Dallas County, officials reported Sunday. Sunday's reporting totals are for Jan. 1 and 2, 2021.
The numbers come as cases and hospitalizations are surging across the country, leading to a spike in deaths and putting hospitals at a breaking point, with many at or near capacity.
The U.S. death toll has now hit 350,000 people as more than 20 million people in the country have tested positive since the pandemic began.
In Dallas County, more than 200,000 cases have now been reported, including antigen tests.
Of those, 1,661 people have lost their lives due to coronavirus.
That number includes an additional 10 people whose deaths were reported on Friday or Saturday.
Eight had underlying health conditions. They were:
- A Dallas woman in her 60s who had been hospitalized
- A Rowlett man in his 70s who was critically ill at a local hospital
- A Garland woman in her 70s who had been hospitalized
- A Dallas woman in her 80s who had been critically ill at a hospital
- A Mesquite woman in her 80s who was hospitalized
- A woman in her 90s who had been a long-term care facility resident in Mesquite. She had been hospitalized
- Two men in their 90s who had been residents of long-term care facilities in Mesquite. Both were critically ill at local hospitals
The other two did not have underlying conditions:
- A Grand Prairie man in his 50s who had been critically ill at a local hospital
- A Dallas man in his 50s who was critically ill at an area hospital
The county now has a provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) of 1,787, or a rate of 67.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents, officials report.
Those high case numbers have translated into the highest number of active outbreaks at area long-term care facilities since the pandemic began, sitting at 102 facilities in the county.
A total of 2,954 residents and 1,687 healthcare workers at those facilities have tested positive so far. More than 350 of those people have died, while 665 have been hospitalized.
In the past 30 days, nearly 6,000 cases have been identified in school-aged children and staff from 756 separate K-12 schools across the county, with almost 10% of those cases being among staff members.
The news comes on the heels of the county's Saturday announcement that they now have a website to register to receive the vaccine for those who are in either Phase 1A or 1B.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told WFAA that as of Saturday night, that website was averaging a new registrant every 3 seconds.
In Tarrant County, where officials launched a similar sign-up website several days ago, more than 100,000 people have pre-registered, officials with the county health department told WFAA.
The county websites are only currently registering people for doses those health departments receive, while other providers like local doctors' offices and pharmacies are doing registration separately at this time.
State officials plan to have a website launched by mid-to-late January for Texans to sign-up for state-coordinated vaccine events, officials say.
Across Texas, officials reported 16,045 new cases Sunday, along with 50 additional deaths. State officials estimate there are now 300,785 active cases, with the highest number in any county by far being in Tarrant County at around 41,575 active cases.
Tarrant County added 4,367 new cases and 13 new deaths from coronavirus Sunday, placing its totals at 157,732 cumulative cases and 1,525 deaths.
Five of those dead in Tarrant county had unknown underlying health conditions, according to officials, and seven had known underlying health conditions. Only one had no underlying health conditions.
They are:
- An Arlington woman in her 30s
- An Arlington man in his 50s
- An Arlington woman in her 70s
- A Bedford man in his 80s
- A Fort Worth man in his 50s
- A Fort Worth man in his 60s
- A Fort Worth woman in her 60s
- A Haltom City man in his 70s
- A Haltom City man in his 80s
- A Lakeside man in his 80s
- A North Richland Hills woman in her 90s
- A River Oaks woman in her 80s
- A White Settlement man in his 40s
In Collin County, there are now 45,674 cumulative cases of coronavirus and 378 deaths as a result of coronavirus.
State officials also estimate there are 12,563 people currently hospitalized across the state, the highest number since the pandemic began. Those numbers have continued to climb dramatically since the end of December, going from about 10,868 in hospitals on Christmas to those more than 12,500 patients by Jan. 3.
About 3,750 of those people are currently hospitalized in the North Texas region.
The state currently has 704 ICU beds available, with 75 of those beds being in the North Texas region.