DALLAS — UT Southwestern updated its COVID forecasting report Monday, saying “new cases may have peaked locally this past week.”
The 16-page document includes data as of Jan. 20-21. UT Southwestern reports its “forecasted peaks have been revised downward due to slower growth in hospitalizations and plateaus in test positivity rates.”
“These positive developments are likely attributable to recent increases in masking and decreases in mobility, which may indicate a significant number of people are quarantining or isolating themselves due to exposures or symptoms, curbing onward transmission,” according to the UT Southwestern report.
The updated report also said "hospital admissions for COVID-19 are plateauing at high levels across most age groups and counties in the DFW area."
On Tuesday, Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said the county reported 100,000 COVID cases in the last three-and-a-half weeks. Later this week, the county’s pandemic total will surpass half a million.
“Let that sink in for a minute,” Taneja said during his presentation to county commissioners Tuesday. “Over the last two years, one-fourth of Tarrant County has come down ill with COVID.”
The highly-contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus represents nearly 100% of positive tests studied at UT Southwestern.
Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang addressed reaching the “peak” during Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting.
He said the county is “starting to see some turnaround in the numbers,” including a decline in emergency department visits in the last 24 hours for suspected and confirmed COVID-19. At the same time, “these levels that we’re seeing are still at record highs compared to the entire pandemic,” Dr. Huang added.
“It’s good that we’re starting to turn the corner and reach the peak, but a reminder that we’re at some of these record levels, still, now,” Dr. Huang said.
Dallas County remains in the "red" COVID-19 threat level.
“How many weeks until we get back to relatively low numbers of cases, assuming that we don’t get another wave of a new (variant) right on top of this?” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins asked Dr. Huang Tuesday.
“We’re thinking probably five to six more weeks in that we would get down to levels where we were before Omicron,” Dr. Huang responded.