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

Tarrant County just got $210 million for coronavirus. Here’s how it might help you

Having problems paying your rent or utilities because of the coronavirus pandemic?

Help may soon be on the way.

Tarrant County has received $210 million from the federal government to help cover costs related to COVID-19. And officials are waiting to see what additional money might be coming from the state through the Coronavirus Relief Fund included in the federal “CARES Act.”

If more funding comes from the state, many of the federal money received this week may be used to help food banks, small businesses, and residents with rent or utility assistance, in addition to helping pay for some of the COVID-19 tests, Tarrant County Judge Whitley said Thursday. The money must be spent before the end of the year.

“Tarrant County and the local governments in our county are facing a major public health and safety challenge at the same time we are facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis,” he wrote in a letter to the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seeking funding. “Simply put, demand and need for core local government services has increased significantly at the same time we are projecting unprecedented revenue loss.”

This money will “provide us with a life vest while we wait for a rescue ship,” Whitley wrote.

Tarrant County residents will have more options to be tested for coronavirus antibodies

Starting Saturday, Dallas-Fort Worth residents will have more options to be tested for coronavirus antibodies.

For weeks, Urgent Care for Kids, has been offering drive-through COVID-19 testing at its locations across the Metroplex — including two sites in Fort Worth and locations in Mansfield and Arlington. It has recently expanded its criteria to allow people who are asymptomatic to be screened and tested for COVID-19 as well, said Brian White, the company’s CEO.

And on Saturday, its locations will also offer screening for patients to have their blood drawn to be tested for coronavirus antibodies — which can indicate that a person has recovered from the virus, even if they weren’t exhibiting symptoms.

“It’s really, really good for public health data and information, and also on the individual level of just being able to see if you have those antibodies and then making life decisions based off of that,” White said.

The presence of antibodies is proof that someone’s immune system fought off a disease, but experts are still studying how long someone may be protected after recovering from the novel coronavirus.

Free coronavirus test sites open Friday in Fort Worth, Arlington. Here’s how to sign up

Beginning Friday, Tarrant County will offer free drive-through COVID-19 testing in Fort Worth and Arlington for those who meet testing criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control.

In Fort Worth, testing will be conducted at 8600 Camp Bowie West Blvd., where Walgreens pharmacists will oversee patients’ self-administration of a rapid COVID-19 test.

In both Fort Worth and Arlington, tests are by appointment only and people will stay in their cars for the testing. In Fort Worth, tests are available from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week, and in Arlington they are available from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

To schedule an appointment in Fort Worth, individuals must first visit Walgreens.com/coronavirus to complete an assessment to determine eligibility. In Arlington, they are asked to visit arlingtontx.gov/coronavirus.

Here’s where and when you can get a free coronavirus test in Johnson County

Johnson County Emergency Management and the Texas Department of State Health Services are providing free coronavirus testing Saturday at the Cleburne Senior Center.

Appointments must be made by phone and prospective patients must have at least one COVID-19 symptom, which includes but not limited to a sore throat, fever, cough, headache, shortness of breath or nasal congestion.

The testing will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. To set up an appointment, call 512-883-2400.

The free testing is sponsored by Johnson County Emergency Management, Department of State Health Services, and Texas Division of Emergency Management.

Coronavirus may drop Fort Worth-area property values, but likely not your tax bills

Tarrant property owners: Get ready for sticker shock.

When appraisals are mailed around May 1, you’ll see what your home or business was valued at as of Jan. 1.

And that may be more than your home’s value after the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders shut down businesses across Texas.

“Appraising properties as of the January 1st date could appear to some that TAD doesn’t care or TAD doesn’t have a heart, but that’s simply not true,” according to a statement from Jeff Law, Tarrant County’s chief appraiser.

Law said the state’s property tax code requires taxable properties to be appraised at the market value as of Jan. 1, which was before COVID-19 cases began appearing in Texas. He said appraisal districts asked the governor’s office to suspend or waive laws regarding assessments, but no relief has been granted.

Tarrant County reports single-day high in coronavirus cases Thursday, plus 45th death

arrant County reported a single-day high 129 new coronavirus cases and its 45th pandemic-related death on Thursday.

Earlier this week, county health officials cautioned there was a temporary lag in lab results being reported, so Thursday’s report likely includes some test results that had been delayed.

The deceased was an Azle man in his 60s who had underlying health conditions. He’s the first reported COVID-19 death in Azle.

The county has reported 1,559 COVID-19 cases, including 265 recoveries and 45 deaths.

Despite 7 more coronavirus deaths, 80 new cases, Dallas County says order is working

Dallas County confirmed seven more coronavirus deaths and 80 new cases on Thursday.

The county has reported 72 COVID-19-related deaths and 2,763 cases. The county is not reporting recovered patient totals.

Of the seven new deaths, six were residents of Dallas and one was a resident of Richardson. Six had been hospitalized and one died at home. The deceased included two in their 60s, one in their 70s, two in their 80s, and two in their 90s.

“We mourn the death of seven more residents from COVID-19. This is a somber reminder of the ruthlessness of this pandemic,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a release. “I am encouraged by the number of new cases, which is once again lower than the average daily number for last week.”

Jenkins says the decrease in new coronavirus cases is a result of the county’s strict stay-at-home order. Tarrant County reported a single-day high 129 new cases on Thursday.

“That’s been the pattern for every day this week. We are benefiting from #SaferAtHome and we all need to keep making good personal responsibility choices,” Jenkins said. “#IfYouRushItYouRuinIt and we shouldn’t waste the sacrifices you and the community have made to get us to this point.

Curve flattening? Denton County reports single-day high for coronavirus recoveries.

Denton County reported 17 new coronavirus cases and a single-day high of 56 recovered patients Thursday.

The county has confirmed 661 COVID-19 cases, including 19 deaths and 306 recoveries.

No new cases were reported at the Denton State Supported Living Center, where 54 residents and 60 employees have contracted the coronavirus.

An 18th resident of a long-term care facility in the county was reported.

Among Collin County’s coronavirus cases, most younger than 60, including 116 under 30

Collin County reported 25 new coronavirus cases Thursday for a total of 609, including 429 recoveries and 14 deaths.

Of the 166 active pandemic cases, 16 patients are hospitalized and 150 remain in home isolation.

The county reports 4,765 negative COVID-19 tests and is monitoring 906 people for symptoms.

Among the total cases, 127 patients are in their 50s, 120 are in their 40s, 111 are in their 30s, 92 are in their 20s, 90 are in their 60s, 21 are in their 70s, 17 are in their 80s and 15 are between 10 and 19. Nine patients are 9 or younger, six are in their 90s and one age is unknown.

Fort Worth, Dallas leading North Texas tribute to pandemic heroes during #ThankYouThursdays

The city of Fort Worth will continue participating in a North Texas-wide tribute to front-line workers in the coronavirus pandemic.

Fort Worth, which collaborated with the Dallas tribute last week, will continue lighting up the city in blue lights every Thursday at 7 p.m.

Both Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson are encouraging residents to applaud front-line pandemic workers during “Thank You Thursdays.”

Fort Worth and Dallas will illuminate its downtown buildings in blue lights and encourage local business owners to light their buildings in blue.

Residents throughout North Texas are asked to step outside their homes at 7 p.m. and show support for front-line workers by making noise and turning on their lights.

Social distancing guidelines and wearing face coverings are strongly recommended during the celebration.

Tarrant County reports 2 more coronavirus deaths, third-most new cases in a day

Tarrant County reported two more coronavirus deaths and 97 new cases on Wednesday.

The latest COVID-19 deaths are man in his 80s living in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County and a Fort Worth man in his 60s. Both had underlying health issues.

The 97 new cases are the third-most reported in a single day by the county. The county reported 105 new cases on April 14 and 101 on Monday.

The county has confirmed 44 pandemic-related deaths and 1,430 cases, including 259 recoveries. Twenty-five of the deaths have been Fort Worth residents.

Grand Prairie man in his 60s the 65th coronavirus death in Dallas County; 81 new cases

Dallas County reported its 65th coronavirus death and 81 new cases on Wednesday.

A Grand Prairie man in his 60s died in an area hospital, health officials reported.

There have been 2,683 total COVID-19 cases in the county. Officials are not releasing patient recovery totals.

Of the pandemic cases requiring hospitalization, most patients have either been 60 or older or have had at least one known high-risk chronic health condition. About a third of all hospitalized COVID-19 patients also had diabetes.

Collin County reports 14 new coronavirus cases, 421 recoveries

Collin County reported 14 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday to bring its total to 584, including 421 recoveries and 14 deaths.

Of the 149 active patients, 38 live in Plano and 37 live in McKinney. Seventeen are hospitalized and 132 are in home isolation.

The county is reporting 4,288 negative COVID-19 tests and 873 people being monitored by health officials for symptoms.

Denton man in his 60s is 19th coronavirus death in county; jail inmate tests positive

Denton County reported its 19th coronavirus death and 25 new cases on Wednesday.

There have been 644 total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, including 263 recoveries and 19 deaths.

The latest death was a Denton man in his 60s who had been in home isolation after locally contracting COVID-19. Eight of the pandemic-related deaths have been patients in their 60s, five were in their 70s and four were 80 or older. One each of the deceased were in their 40s and 50s.

One of the newly reported cases is an inmate at the Denton County Jail. Two inmates in the county have contracted the virus.

Active coronavirus cases dwindle in Parker County, down to 3 in Weatherford, 2 in Azle

Parker County is down to just five active coronavirus cases.

Of the 21 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 16 have recovered. The five active cases include three in Weatherford and two in Azle. The five patients are in their 50s and 60s and are in home isolation.

Of the total confirmed cases, eight have been in Weatherford, five in Azle, two in Willow Park and one each in Aledo, Lipan, Peaster, Poolville, Reno and Springtown.

The county has reported 229 negative COVID-19 test results and 12 results are pending.

Fort Worth bar says it’ll reopen May 1, regardless of coronavirus shutdown ‘nonsense’

A bar in Fort Worth’s Stockyards caused a debate on social media after posting the venue will open on May 1 despite the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, which the post called “nonsense” and “grossly over exaggerated.”

The Basement Bar posted the reopening announcement Tuesday night on its Facebook page. By Wednesday afternoon, the post had thousands of comments, some supporting the bar and others calling the move dangerous and irresponsible.

At about noon Wednesday, the post had been taken off the page.

“We have played the game long enough,” the Facebook post said. “We abided by the rules set forth to help prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed and to ‘flatten the curve.’”

The post said the bar has been closed since March 18 and always puts customers and employees’ safety first.

“As most of you already know, more and more evidence is brought to light everyday that most of this was all nonsense and grossly over exaggerated. We feel it is most important to stand up for our freedoms and get our employees back to work, it is our right. We can no longer neglect our livelihoods for the illusion of safety put forth by our city leaders. There’s no more ‘Y’all Stay Home’ it’s ‘Y’all Get Back to Work!’”

Thousands of people commented on the post, and the Basement Bar responded to supporters and opponents alike. Some said the bar was putting profits ahead of people. Others said they would be glad to visit the bar.

Fred Barnett is the PR spokesman for several bars in the Stockyards, including the Basement Bar. He said when they posted about reopening, they were not expecting the reaction they received, which he called “downright vicious.”

He said people are terrified of coronavirus, but he does not believe it is as deadly or widespread in Texas as people think.

“Obviously public safety and employee safety is first and foremost, but we feel like there are a lot of questions going unanswered that we certainly would like to have answered (about coronavirus),” he said.

At about 1 p.m. Wednesday, the bar posted again, saying Facebook removed their first post but they were still planning on opening May 1.

Federal prison inmate in Fort Worth dies after testing positive for the coronavirus

A federal prison inmate in Fort Worth who tested positive for the coronavirus died Wednesday, according to prison officials.

Arnoldo Almeida, 61, went into respiratory distress at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth on April 16.

Almeida, who had long-term, pre-existing medical conditions, was evaluated by medical staff and taken to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation, a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.

Almeida had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 13, and was immediately placed in isolation, the release said.

FMC Fort Worth had 56 inmates and one staff member with known cases of the coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Texas clinics resume abortions after looser restrictions on procedures amid coronavirus

Texas’ ban on most abortion procedures amid the coronavirus’ outbreak appears to have ended Wednesday. Clinics across the state resumed services and attorneys for the state acknowledged that doing so would not be in conflict with Gov. Greg Abbott’s new executive order that permitted some elective procedures to recommence.

At 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Abbott’s new executive order went into effect, allowing elective medical procedures to resume in healthcare facilities that agree to reserve hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients and to not request supplies of personal protective equipment from public sources.

The order lasts through May 8 and replaced Abbott’s previous executive order that suspended elective surgeries and procedures that weren’t necessary to correct a serious medical condition or to preserve the life of a patient — including most abortions. The state’s ban on most abortion procedures amid the pandemic has been the focus of a back-and-forth legal battle between abortion providers and the state.

At a press conference announcing the relaxed restrictions last week, Abbott said abortion procedures are “not part of this order” and that it would ultimately “be a decision for courts to make.”

However, Dyana Limon-Mercado, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said in a statement Wednesday that Planned Parenthood believes the exception in the new order means that abortion providers, like other facilities, may resume services.

And attorneys for the state did not challenge abortion providers’ interpretation. In a legal filing in a U.S. District Court Wednesday night, state attorneys said that because abortion providers had certified in writing to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission that they qualified for the exemption, that “neither HHSC nor (the Texas Medical Board) will take any unilateral enforcement action against them.”

Millions in U.S. denied coronavirus stimulus checks because they married an immigrant

Christina Segundo-Hernández had to leave her job at UPS to take care of her four kids after the schools closed because of the coronavirus.

She was hoping to use her stimulus check to fix the swing set in the back yard, but she recently found out she is not getting any federal aid money.

“I wanted them to have a place to play,” said Segundo-Hernández, who holds an hour of recess with her kids each day in the back yard of her northeast Fort Worth home.

“I don’t understand how me, a taxpaying American citizen and my children are being punished just because of who I married. That’s just not American.”

Thousands of U.S. citizens and lawmakers across the country are asking the same question. Why were millions of families abiding by the tax laws, reporting their real household income and being open about their loved one’s immigration status left out in this time of need?

In Texas, where one in seven U.S. citizen children live in a home like Segundo-Hernández’s, where a member of the family does not have a Social Security number, this exclusion affects everybody, experts say.

Segundo-Hernandez’s husband is undocumented and works in construction. For nearly a decade he’s used a federal individual taxpayer identification number when they file their joint tax returns.

Filing taxes is not mandatory for undocumented workers but Segundo-Hernandez said they hope to one day fix her husband’s immigration status and want to show he’s been a contributing member to society and not a public burden.

Many patients fear contracting coronavirus at hospitals. It’s killing them, MedStar says

Patients in the Tarrant County area could be waiting too long before they call 911 for help, and then they are reluctant to be taken to a local hospital for fear of contracting the coronavirus, according to MedStar officials on Wednesday.

Waiting too long has ended tragically for many patients in the Tarrant County area in recent weeks, officials said. More than 50 percent more patients were pronounced dead at the scene by MedStar crews so far this month compared to April 2019 for those found to be in cardiac arrest, according to MedStar statistics..

“Our crews are concerned that some patients may be waiting too long to call, and, even when they do, many patients are reluctant to go to the hospital out of fear of contracting coronavirus,” said MedStar spokesman Matt Zavadsky in a Wednesday news release. “They also may not want to go to a hospital because of the restricted visitor policies enacted by many hospitals to help flatten the curve of the coronavirus.”

Since January, MedStar’s ambulance transports to hospitals are down 30 percent, while response volume is down 19 percent, according to MedStar statistics.

Here are some statistics that MedStar officials note could mean patients may be waiting too long before they call: responses in which a patient was found to be in cardiac arrests were up 12 percent in March compared to March 2019. And so far in April, MedStar crews have responded to 38 percent more cardiac arrests than in April 2019.

“It is important that people call 911 if they feel they are experiencing a medical emergency,” Zavadsky said. “Let your local EMS professionals respond, conduct a thorough medical assessment, and provide recommendations for the most appropriate medical care for you.”

Fort Worth-area students give free childcare to health workers fighting coronavirus

Students at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth are volunteering to provide free babysitting for the children of health care workers in need.

Essential workers, such as nurses, respiratory therapists, dentists, almost anyone in a health care profession who cannot work remotely, have reported some troubles maintaining childcare arrangements in recent weeks because so many schools and daycare facilities have either closed or have reached capacity due to social distancing requirements.

In addition, childcare can be expensive, the volunteers said.

Workers in non-hospital settings, such as health care employees working at assisted living centers and jails, should also apply so their eligibility can be determined, volunteers said.

The student volunteers of DFW COVIDsitters are trying to be helpful and the need is extensive, said Abhi Ganesh, one of the group’s founders. Ganesh’s sister and brother-in-law are both working as health care professionals in Houston and her nephew is living with Ganesh’s parents, his grandparents, Ganesh said.

Not everyone is so fortunate to have that as an option, Ganesh said.

“There are people living in the garage and not able to come home because they have children and they are working around the coronavirus,” Ganesh said. “Some cannot pay $12 to $15 an hour for childcare.”

Abbott hints at localized approach to reopening Texas businesses amid coronavirus

Gov. Greg Abbott hinted Wednesday at a regional approach to reopening businesses in Texas based on the level of spread of the novel coronavirus.

In an interview Wednesday morning with talk show host Chad Hasty on KFYO radio in Lubbock, Abbott said that as part of his revised guidance to begin reopening businesses in Texas, counties with lower numbers of confirmed cases may be able to fully reopen sooner than counties where the virus is still growing.

Abbott pointed to April 9 as the date of Texas’ “high water mark,” and according to the Houston Chronicle, the state saw 1,421 new cases confirmed that day — a high of new daily cases that has not been reached since. But the number of cases across Texas is likely higher than reported, as testing has been limited. Texas ranks near the bottom nationwide in per capita testing.

“That was the only day we’ve had in the state of Texas that had more than 1,000 people test positive for COVID-19,” Abbott said.

However, there are “some pockets in the state of Texas that don’t have the adequate downward trajectory,” he continued.

Last week, Abbott issued an executive order permitting retail businesses to begin operating “to-go” starting Friday, and he’s expected to announce revised guidance Monday.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.