Tarrant County confirms nearly 500 new coronavirus cases, most from Fort Worth prison
Tarrant County reported 485 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus Sunday, with 423 of those coming from the outbreak of the virus in a federal prison in Fort Worth.
The county confirmed two more deaths from the virus, bringing the total to 103, according to data from Tarrant County Public Health.
The county now has a total of 3,695 cases of the virus with 780 recoveries.
The Federal Medical Center Fort Worth prison has 619 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the prison and reported a fifth inmate’s death from the virus Sunday.
FMC Fort Worth has a total of 636 inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19, but the prison has officially reported only 477 of those cases to the county, Tarrant County Public Health spokesman Richard Hill said. Those numbers will be added to the official count once FMC Fort Worth reports them to the county.
Guadalupe Ramos, 56, died on Sunday after being in a coma for several weeks at a local hospital. He was taken off life support by his family, Veronica Chavez, Ramos’ niece, said. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 23.
He had been at FMC Fort Worth for distributing 1 kilogram or more of heroin since September 2017, the Bureau of Prisons said in a press release. He also had diabetes, hypertension, chronic lung disease, hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, high blood pressure and stents in his heart and fluids in his body, Chavez said.
The county has not yet released any more information on the second death reported Sunday.
Tarrant County has 221 hospital beds currently occupied by coronavirus patients, according to Tarrant County Public Health. There are more than 2,000 beds unoccupied in the county and 408 available ventilators.
This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 2:48 PM.