As of 2:00 pm May 18, 2021, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 72 additional positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dallas County, 57 confirmed cases, and 15 probable cases. There is a cumulative total of 259,714 confirmed cases (PCR test). There is a cumulative total of 42,276 probable cases (antigen test). A total of 3,997 Dallas County residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19 illness.
Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) is providing initial vaccinations to those most at risk of exposure to COVID-19 and over 469,000 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic, which started operations on Monday, January 11. Vaccine operations for both first and second doses at Fair Park will resume on Wednesday with extended hours from 8 am - 8 pm.
The additional deaths being reported today include the following:
- A woman in her 40's who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 50's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Garland. He expired in an area ED and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He was found deceased at home and did not have any underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70's who was a resident of the City of Balch Springs. She had been in critical care and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70's who was a resident of the City of Mesquite. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 80's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Cedar Hill. He had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 90's who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He expired in hospice and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 90's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of DeSoto. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 90's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Mesquite. She expired in a facility and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
To date, a total of 81 cases with SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have been identified in residents of Dallas County, including: 69 cases of variant B.1.1.7; seven B.1.429 variants; two B.1.526 variants; two P.1 variants; and one P.2 variant. Five have been hospitalized with 3 requiring intensive care unit admission, and one has died. Seven had a history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas. One case of B.1.1.7 is a likely instance of reinfection with COVID-19, occurring over 6 months after an initial PCR-confirmed infection. The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 18 was 178, which is a rate of 6.8 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Over the past 2 weeks, rates of new COVID19 diagnoses in Cedar Hill, Coppell, and Seagoville have been more than 50% higher than county-wide case rates. Rates of new COVID-19 diagnoses in Balch Springs, DeSoto, Mesquite, and Rowlett have been 30% higher than county-wide case rates. Of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals in week 18 (week ending 5/8/21), 7.9% of respiratory specimens tested positive SARS-CoV-2.
During the past 30 days, there were 1,106 COVID-19 cases in school-aged children and staff reported from 417 separate K-12 schools in Dallas County. During the months of April and May, 20% of all COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Dallas County were in children under the age of 18 years- the highest proportion in this age group since the beginning of the pandemic. To date, 67 children have been hospitalized with diagnoses of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), a rare but serious complication associated with COVID-19 infection. In Dallas County, 506 cases of COVID-19 breakthrough COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated individuals have been confirmed to date, of which 82 were hospitalized, and 7 have died.
There are currently 31 active long-term care facility outbreaks. A cumulative total of 4,372 residents and 2,462 healthcare workers in long-term facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 1,090 have been hospitalized and 777 have died. About 20% of all deaths reported to date have been associated with long-term care facilities. Ten outbreaks of COVID-19 in congregate-living facilities (e.g. homeless shelters, group homes, and halfway homes) have been reported in the past 30 days. A cumulative total of 621 residents and 223 staff members in congregate-living facilities in Dallas have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19. New cases are being reported as a daily aggregate, with more detailed summary reports updated Tuesday and Friday evenings, available at https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus/daily-updates.php.
Local health experts use hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ER visits as three of the key indicators as part of determining the COVID-19 Risk Level (color-coded risk) and corresponding guidelines for activities during our COVID-19 response. The most recent COVID-19 hospitalization data for Dallas County, as reported to the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council, can be found at www.dallascounty.org/covid-19 under "Monitoring Data," and is updated regularly. This data includes information on the total available ICU beds, suspected and confirmed COVID-19 ER visits in the last 24 hours, confirmed COVID-19 inpatients, and COVID-19 deaths by actual date of death. The most recent forecasting from UTSW can be found here.