Dallas County reports 64 new coronavirus cases, rise in hospitalizations
The number of residents infected by the coronavirus is continuing to surge in Dallas County, with officials confirming an additional 64 cases on Friday.
The county now has a total of 367 cases, including seven deaths, according to a news release issued on Friday. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are increasing, officials said, and 36 percent of all hospitalizations have required patients to be admitted into intensive care. Twenty percent of hospitalizations have reportedly required mechanical ventilation.
Also, of those hospitalized, roughly 65 percent are individuals who are 60 years or older or have the presence of at least one high-risk condition.
Dallas County leads all Texas counties in coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Texas Health and Human Services. Tarrant County, which confirmed 14 new cases on Friday to bring the total to 114, is fifth.
Of the cases in Dallas County, about 36 percent have been individuals between the ages of 18 and 40 and about 36 percent have been individuals between the ages of 41 and 60, according to the news release. About 27 percent of COVID-19 patients have been over 60. About 1 percent have been 0-10.
Roughly 59 percent of patients have been male and 41 percent have been female.
There have been 217 cases confirmed in Dallas, 24 in Irving, 18 in Garland, 15 in DeSoto, 15 in Mesquite and 11 in Highland Park. Several other cities and towns have reported a handful of cases.
Data provided by Dallas County also shows hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have overtaken hospitalizations due to influenza. As of last Saturday, there were 52 coronavirus hospitalizations compared to 30 influenza hospitalizations.
Of those 52 hospitalizations, 20 people had to be admitted into the ICU, according to the data.
A week earlier, on March 14, there were only 13 patients hospitalized because of COVID-19, while there were 67 patients hospitalized because of influenza.
Due to the decline in influenza hospitalizations, officials said, the county is going to begin replacing weekly updates on influenza with weekly updates on coronavirus.
