We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about coronavirus in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Check back for updates.

Abbott issues new travel orders for Louisiana, other areas

Gov. Greg Abbott announced travelers flying or driving from Louisiana into Texas must self-quarantine for 14 days according to an executive order he passed Sunday.

Another order extension will require people flying from the following places to self-quarantine for two weeks: California, Washington state, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Miami. This is in addition to New Orleans and New York.

At Sunday’s press conference, Abbott also announced the the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas will open to treat COVID-19 patients if hospitals exceed their capacity.

Two Fort Worth police officers test positive for coronavirus

Two Fort Worth police officers have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a news release from the department.

The officers have self-isolated, and the department is working to reach anyone with whom they came in contact.

The officers worked in the same unit and had limited close contact with others while at work, according to the release. Their office spaces are being disinfected.

Dallas threatens to close parks, trails due to overcrowding as coronavirus spreads

Dallas officials warned Sunday they may have to close the city’s parks and trails to the public due to overcrowding and fears that people could spread the coronavirus.

In a statement, city officials said parks are too crowded and they have seen people not following social distancing rules, such as staying six feet apart. Two parks in particular — Katy Trail and White Rock Lake — have been overcrowded.

Officials are putting barricades at many entrances of the parks and trails, and will also limit vehicle traffic into parks.

Confirmed cases exceed 900 in metro area

Tarrant County officials confirmed 11 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing the total number to 139. Arlington reported four, while Fort Worth had three and Forest Hill, Keller, Hurst and Azle each had one. The case in Azle is the first confirmed by the city.

Dallas County reported one death and 49 new cases of coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths to 10 and confirmed cases to 488.

Collin County reported six new coronavirus cases on Sunday. The county has confirmed 134 total cases.

Denton County Public Health on Saturday announced the county’s second COVID-19 related death. The patient, an Aubrey man in his 60s, was hospitalized and contracted the disease from local transmission, according to a news release.

Denton County reported 17 new cases on Sunday, bringing its total to 165 cases, 45 of which are at the Denton State Supported Living Center.

Johnson County confirmed four new cases Friday, for a total of six, and issued a stay-at-home order that took effect at midnight Friday.

The total number of cases in counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is more than 900 as of Sunday.

As Denton living center becomes coronavirus hot spot, families struggle with separation

When Debbie Waddy Cates FaceTimes with her 32-year-old son, Michael Jameson, she tries to explain the state of his world in a way that will make sense to him.

Jameson, who’s non-verbal but can communicate through limited sign language, lives in the Denton State Supported Living Center, a home for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities that contains the largest cluster of coronavirus cases in Texas, with 45 residents testing positive as of Sunday.

Friendly contact is normally a big part of life here — residents high-five and hug each other, and congregate at campus hangouts. But Cates, 57, of Fort Worth, tells her son it can’t be that way for a little while.

She will ask him, almost every time they talk over FaceTime, to think about his little niece, one of his close friends.

The 7-year-old came down with a nasty case of the flu back in December. It got so bad she had to go to the hospital.

“We’ve been able to give him a perspective and say, ‘Remember how Lucy was so sick?’” Cates told the Star-Telegram over the phone on Saturday. “‘This virus can make people that sick, too. And so in order to keep people from getting the virus, we have to stay in our homes.’ We just keep reminding him of that.”

The sprawling State Supported Living Center in Denton has been in a state of lockdown since cases first emerged more than a week ago, with no visitors allowed and the 440-plus residents ordered to stay on campus. Cates has been informed by her son’s caregivers of the expectation for the weeks ahead: The outbreak, she said, is poised to peak in the second week of April, “hitting very high numbers.” Several people could require hospitalization.

Cates expects it might not be until mid-May that she could see him again. “The separation is hard — just not being able to give him a hug,” she said.

Read more here.

Worker finishing construction of Globe Life Field tests positive for coronavirus

A subcontractor working on Globe Life Field has tested positive for coronavirus, and the Texas Rangers have notified their employees to make sure no one was in contact with the worker.

The Manhattan Construction Company said in a statement that they learned on Wednesday of the ill employee, who was stationed in an isolated area of the $1.2-billion ballpark. The area was cleared of all personnel and cleaned thoroughly.

Fort Worth officers begin to wear masks, gloves on calls in pandemic procedure shift

Fort Worth police officers began on Saturday to wear protective masks and protective gloves as they responded to calls during a pandemic.

The requirement, which started with the morning shift and applies to officers interacting with the public, is perhaps the most visible measure the department has taken since coronavirus cases began to increase.

Fort Worth police officers began on Saturday to wear protective masks and protective gloves as they responded to calls during a pandemic.

The requirement, which started with the morning shift and applies to officers interacting with the public, is perhaps the most visible measure the department has taken since coronavirus cases began to increase.

Parents, teachers learn to teach from home amid coronavirus closures

In the midst of all the unknown, Kristy Hill is trying to find some structure.

Hill is a single parent who, as a Keller school librarian, has been trying to find a routine for her kids while working 10- to 12-hour days to help other parents and teachers get the resources they need to teach their own children.

With her three teenage sons’ schools closed in the Keller school district, she’s working to balance that job while trying to ensure that her sons, one of whom has autism, get the education they need.

“One minute I feel like I’m doing great, I got this,” Hill said. “The next minute I’m worried I’m not doing enough. I’m worried that I don’t have all the answers.”

Hill isn’t alone as parents, teachers and principals learn to navigate a coronavirus pandemic that has closed their schools.

Fort Worth area school districts have said they will be closed “until further notice,” and with their shutdowns has come a shift to learning at home.

School districts have sent lessons and curriculum plans, but many parents are anxious they aren’t doing enough or they aren’t qualified to ensure their kids’ education isn’t disrupted by the coronavirus.

Arabia Whitfield searched online to try and create a curriculum for her 12-year-old son, Christopher Grimes, who is in seventh grade at Uplift Elevate Preparatory, a public charter school in Fort Worth.

“I’m not a teacher, I don’t know how much work to give him and not put so much pressure on him, because this is a different world for him too,” Whitfield said. “He can get frustrated getting the schoolwork done that’s not mandatory.”

And parents have had to balance their own jobs, too, with many navigating how to work from home.

“I have still 40 hours of work to do, so how am I going to fit this into this new normal?” said Emily Youree, a Fort Worth mom. “I’ve explained to my kids this isn’t a snow day. It isn’t spring break. It’s a serious deal, but mom and dad still have to work.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates March 29: Here’s what to know in the Dallas-Fort Worth area."