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.

Fort Worth man threw 400-person, coronavirus-themed parties because he was ‘bored’

Hundreds of people crammed into a warehouse in downtown Fort Worth on Friday and Saturday night to celebrate a bar director’s birthday in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Corey Mobley said he decided to have a party for his 37th birthday at the last minute and invited hundreds of his friends to the secret location. The rain on Friday night kept some people away, so he decided to have a second round on Saturday.

“I was bored and there’s nothing else to do,” he said about the parties.

Mobley is the director of operations and founder of Whiskey Garden’s Turtle Races, an event usually held every other Monday in which an array of turtles race to a finish line. He plans and hosts parties for the bar and throws an annual birthday party, he said. Since the bars are closed, he decided to have the warehouse parties instead.

On Friday, 300 to 400 people filled the warehouse. On Saturday, hundreds more showed up. Mobley broke open a coronavirus-themed pinata filled with mini bottles of Rumple Minze, and photos show the crowd of people packed together to take a picture.

When asked if he felt that hosting the party was irresponsible, Mobley said he had no comment. He added that he and fellow service industry workers are ready to go back to work, and he is glad Gov. Greg Abbott is reopening businesses. Bars can reopen this Friday at 25% capacity.

“I feel like your body is going to be stronger if you’re out around people and — I don’t know,” Mobley said. “I don’t want to get into this politics stuff. I didn’t really think about it.”

Fort Worth approves $10M small business grant program, but one councilman’s against it

Fort Worth will devote more money to a coronavirus relief grant program for small businesses rather than fund microloans that could be forgiven.

The city had originally planned to use part of its $158 million federal stimulus funding to establish a $2.5 million grant option while devoting $12.5 million to loans, but questions arose about whether the loans would be valid after the end of the year, when the federal stimulus bill requires cities to have spent their allotment.

Instead, $10 million will be devoted to grants with a maximum of $50,000 available for Fort Worth small businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The program is being called “Preserve the Fort.”

Fort Worth will work with United Way of Tarrant County to administer the grants. Applications will be open May 26 through June 8. An online application portal is currently being developed.

Businesses can apply for up to $50,000, based on the number of employees, to cover rent, payroll, equipment or capital, said Robert Sturns, the city’s economic development director. At least $2.5 million will be set aside for minority- and women-owned businesses and $2.5 million for businesses in areas the city has designated as investment zones.

Time for economic recovery, finding ‘new normal’ with COVID, Tarrant County judge says

Tarrant County officials for months have focused on preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus, requiring people to stay home and stay apart from each other as much as possible.

Now they say it’s time to move on to doing what they can to help revive the economy, especially as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is letting more people go back to work.

“We are no longer concerned about the availability about beds and being able to keep hospitals open,” Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said Tuesday during the commissioners court weekly meeting. “We’ve been successful.

“It’s now time not to ignore that the virus is out there, but … to begin to get back to what we call the new normal.”

Seven deaths were reported Tuesday in Tarrant County, and Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said during the meeting the number deaths were starting to flatten. Asked about that after the meeting, he told reporters he won’t consider local numbers to have flattened until there’s a drop in deaths for two to three weeks.

4 children develop inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19, Fort Worth hospital says

Four children have been treated for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, a rare health condition connected to COVID-19, in the last 11 days, Cook Children’s Medical Center said Tuesday.

Three of the patients, who are between 6 and 14 years old, have been released from the Fort Worth hospital. One patient is in its pediatric intensive care unit.

One of the children tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and three tested negative, Cook Children’s said.

“We believe all of these cases are related to COVID-19,” Dr. Nicholas Rister, an infectious diseases physician, said in a statement. “The three negative results are evidence of how far the infection had progressed, resulting in the inflammatory syndrome.”

The Cook infectious diseases team is also reviewing increased reports of unexplained fevers in the Fort Worth area.

The children with the inflammatory syndrome presented with symptoms that resembled a severe case of Kawasaki disease, Rister said.

Protesters blame Dallas meatpacking plant for virus deaths. ‘We are asking for justice.’

A group of former meatpacking workers, some who tested positive for coronavirus, and their families stood outside Quality Sausage Co. in Dallas on Tuesday night asking for someone to intervene and shut down the plant before more workers die.

“I don’t understand why we have to come here and protest with masks and bring workers literally out of quarantine for them to listen,” Blanca Parra said in Spanish while holding a Veladora candle in honor of her husband, Hugo Dominguez, a forklift operator at the plant who died of COVID-19 on April 25.

“The virus was the gun that killed him but Quality Sausage was the hand that pulled the trigger,” Parra said. “We are asking for justice because the company and the people who made the decision to continue working and putting people at risk need them to be held accountable.”

Parra filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company on May 6, claiming Dominguez was told to report to work or face being fired even after his symptoms became evident.

A second wrongful death lawsuit could be filed as soon as Wednesday morning against Quality Sausage Co., according to Carlos Quintanilla, a local activist who organized the protest and who works with the law firm representing Dominguez and the family of Mathias Martinez who died on April 24.

Martinez had worked at the plant for 14 years before testing positive for COVID-19, according to Martinez’s wife, who lives in Mexico and asked not be identified. She said the cause of death remained pending as of Tuesday night.

Quintanilla said Quality Sausage refused to take the pandemic seriously and took no safety precautions even as workers became sick.

Quality Sausage did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

Fort Worth reports 7 more coronavirus deaths, most for Tarrant County in 18 days

Tarrant County reported the coronavirus-related deaths of seven more Fort Worth residents on Tuesday.

The county also confirmed 84 new COVID-19 cases for a total of 4,643, including 130 deaths and 1,586 recoveries.

The seven coronavirus deaths are the most in a single day since the county had 12 on May 1, according to county statistics. These numbers are revised by county health officials retroactively and may not be the same as previously reported numbers.

The latest deaths include a man in his 50s, a man and a woman in their 60s, two women in their 70s, and a man and a woman in their 80s. All had underlying conditions, according to health officials.

Of the 130 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths in Tarrant County, 82 have been Fort Worth residents. Others include 12 in Arlington, eight in Keller and five in both Grapevine and Benbrook. Azle, Forest Hill, Haltom City, Mansfield, and rural Tarrant County have reported two deaths. Bedford, Grand Prairie, Hurst, Kennedale, Lakeside, River Oaks, Sansom Park and Southlake each have reported one death.

COVID-19 cases over time

Coronavirus daily case counts over time by local counties in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex. Tap the arrow button to replay the animation. Data provided by Texas Health and Human Services and local counties.

Steve Wilson swilson@star-telegram.com

Dallas County reports ‘our most deadly day’ of pandemic, 225 new coronavirus cases

Dallas County reported a single-day record high 14 coronavirus-related deaths and 225 new cases on Tuesday.

The ages of the latest deaths include one man in his 40s, two men and a woman in their 50s, three men and two women in their 60s, a man and a woman in their 70s, a man in his 80s, and a man and a woman in their 90s.

The deaths included residents of Dallas (4), Mesquite (3), Irving (3), Grand Prairie (2) and one each in Duncanville and Garland.

Five were residents of long-term care facilities. The county has confirmed a total of 7,904 COVID-19 cases, including 191 deaths. The county is not reporting a daily count of recoveries.

“Today is our most deadly day thus far during the COVID-19 crisis as we report the passing of 14 of our residents,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a release and on social media. “All this illustrates the importance of you avoiding crowds whenever possible, maintaining a 6 foot distance at all times from people outside your household, wearing a cloth face covering at businesses and on public transportation, as well as practicing good hygiene.”

Jenkins urged residents to adhere to the social distancing recommendations from health officials as the state’s reopening process continues to widen.

“As the Governor opens more and more businesses, it’s important that each of focus not on what is legal, but also focus on what is safe and the recommendations of the public health committee which can be found at http://DallasCountyCOVID.org.”

Lockheed reduces hours for employees to avoid layoffs amid COVID supply delays, reps say

About 2,500 employees at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth will soon work abbreviated schedules in order to make up for supply delays associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Greg Ulmer, vice president and general manager of the F-35 program.

Lockheed Martin and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to a temporary alternate work schedule for F-35 production line employees in order to avoid layoffs.

Ulmer told the Star-Telegram the company hopes to return to pre-COVID-19 production levels in the fall. The company will evaluate production every three weeks, with a goal to be back to normal by Sept. 4.

The company estimates being short 18 to 24 aircraft by the end of the year. The goal was to deliver 141, Ulmer said. Last year, they delivered 134 with a target of 131.

The new work schedules, which begin on Saturday, will allow production workers to keep their full pay and benefits, Ulmer said.

All Texas voters eligible to vote by mail amid coronavirus, federal judge rules

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that all Texas voters are eligible to vote by mail to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus amid the pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery sided with the Texas Democractic Party in his ruling Tuesday, and agreed that a fear of contracting the virus will limit citizens’ rights to vote in-person and a lack of immunity to COVID-19 “is indeed a physical condition.” Biery’s ruling allows voters under the age of 65 who would normally be ineligible for a mail-in ballot under Texas law to qualify for one.

“One’s right to vote should not be elusively based on the whims of nature. Citizens should have the option to choose voting by letter carrier versus voting with disease carriers,” Biery wrote in his ruling. “’We the People’ get just about the government and political leaders we deserve, but deserve to have a safe and unfettered vote to say what we get.”

Biery heard arguments in the preliminary injunction hearing Friday in San Antonio, and his ruling is the latest in a slew of legal challenges in both state and federal courts challenging Texas’ vote-by-mail laws and restrictions. Civil rights groups and voters have raised concerns over voters flocking to potentially crowded polling places amid the outbreak to cast their ballot.

In order to qualify to vote by mail under Texas law, voters must submit an application and be 65 or older, disabled, out of the county on Election Day and during in-person early voting, or be eligible to vote but confined in jail.

Fort Worth Zoo reopening with temporary pandemic precautions, mandatory reservations

The Fort Worth Zoo is reopening May 29 but you’ll need to make a reservation and practice social distancing.

The zoo, which has been closed during the coronavirus pandemic, is temporarily enacting a reservation system to help “control the flow of people in the zoo and to distribute guests throughout the day,” a news release said.

All guests, including zoo members, need to reserve tickets for each member of their party and select a designated time slot online. Attendance will be capped each day and entrance times will be staggered to keep visitors evenly distributed throughout the zoo.

Reserved tickets can be purchased 72 hours in advance of the day you wish to visit. If tickets are sold out for your requested time, you’ll need to pick another slot. Ticket booths will remain closed. No tickets will be sold at the zoo.

Tickets can be printed or accessed on mobile phones. Membership cards and timed tickets will be checked on entry.

This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 6:58 AM.