Dallas County passes 8,000 coronavirus cases, nears 200 deaths despite ‘gradual decline’
Dallas County reported 186 new coronavirus cases and deaths in five different cities on Wednesday.
Overall, the county has had 8,090 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 196 deaths.
The latest coronavirus deaths include an Irving man in his 40s; a Farmer’s Branch man in his 50s; a Grand Prairie woman in her 70s; a Mesquite man in his 70s, and a man in his 70s who was a resident of a Dallas long-term care facility. All had been hospitalized.
“Today’s number of cases is markedly lower than what we saw last week and now halfway through the week we’re seeing a healthy decline in the number of new positive cases,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a release. “We have not seen an appreciable increase in testing yet in Dallas although there has been some increase in testing sites with the opening of some Walmart, Kroger Health and other sites.”
Jenkins said health officials want to see more data before declaring it a sustained decrease in new COVID-19 cases.
“We’ve seen an increase, then a plateau, and now we’re seeing a gradual decline,” he said. “The doctors tell me to temper my optimism on this and that the key numbers to look at are ICU admissions, hospital beds and deaths, but I’d rather see the number of new cases going down than up.”
Jenkins urged residents to continue practicing social distancing and to “focus not on what is legal, but on what is safe as advised by the doctors.”
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.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 6:46 PM.
