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 Jail inmate, 67, first to die of coronavirus; 41 active cases in jail

An inmate at the Tarrant County Jail has died from the coronavirus, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday.

The 67-year-old man, who had underlying health conditions, is the first Tarrant County Jail inmate to die of COVID-19. He died Saturday after being transferred to John Peter Smith Hospital on May 3. He had underlying health conditions, officials said.

The man was being held by the courts with no bond since Feb. 20 after being arrested on two counts of suspicion of DWI felony repetition.

“My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with this man’s family during their time of need,” chief of staff David McClelland said in a release.

There are 41 inmates who currently have tested positive for COVID-19. Ninety-nine inmates have been quarantined or isolated in the jail system and three are currently being treated at area hospitals.

Twenty-three active jailers have tested positive for COVID-19 and four others have been quarantined while awaiting test results.

Tarrant County Public Health officials did not report new pandemic cases or deaths on Monday because of the Memorial Day holiday.

Dallas County reports no coronavirus deaths Monday as cases continue to trend downward

Dallas County reported 171 new coronavirus cases and no deaths on Monday.

It’s the first time since May 10 and only the second day this month the county hasn’t recorded at least one COVID-19 death.

The county has confirmed 8,998 COVID-19 cases, including 211 deaths. The county is not reporting daily recovery totals.

It’s the third consecutive day of fewer than 200 new cases and fifth in the past six days. There have been about 30 fewer cases a day the past week than the previous week.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins urged residents to continue to use social distancing guidelines as suggested by the CDC and state and local health officials.

“Whether this trend continues and we move from our current status of red ‘stay home stay safe’ to orange, is up to all of us,” Jenkins said in a release on social media. “Avoiding crowds, maintaining a 6 foot distance, wearing our face covering as a quintessential American value of an act of kindness and protection to essential workers and patrons when we are in businesses or on public transportation and practicing good hygiene are the best ways to flatten the curve.”

Jenkins wants residents to “delay in-person dining” until the county has seen a 14-day decline in hospitalizations and ICU admissions.”

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

Landlords, business owners navigate new economic reality amid coronavirus pandemic

When the stay-at-home orders were issued earlier this spring, Sue Schulz, who owns What’s Poppin Texas, saw her sales fall drastically.

She worried about paying her rent, keeping her employees and running her small business where she sells 70 flavors of popcorn and candies.

“I am considered an essential business, but the first week was dreadful with people not coming in,” Schulz said, describing what it was like when the stay-at-home order took effect.

Schulz said her sales fell by 75 percent. Business picked up with Easter and graduations, but she is taking a day-by-day approach.

Commercial landlords and their tenants are navigating an uncertain future brought on the coronavirus pandemic. Some landlords are working with their tenants on a case-by-case basis to provide rent relief although they have mortgages and other financial obligations.

Schulz’s landlord, Michael Zimmermann, who owns and manages Bedford Meadows and other shopping centers in North Texas and the U.S. through his company Green Earth Realty, gave Schulz a break on her rent. Schulz is still waiting to find out whether she will receive help from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Assistance Recovery and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Under PPP businesses must use 75 percent of the money they receive for salaries, and the remaining 25 percent can be used for other expenses such as utilities or rent.

Schulz said she had money to pay her rent in April, but she said Zimmermann told her to “hold off” and see if she gets assistance from the PPP. This break on her rent meant she could keep her employees so that she wouldn’t have to run the store by herself.

“I feel really lucky. I know there are landlords out there who haven’t been so understanding,” Schulz said.

Stress slamming medical staffs amid COVID-19. This Texas counseling group offers help.

Critical care nurse Erica Hicks has seen her share of 12-hour work shifts since March, when the coronavirus exploded in Texas and across the country.

Since then, she’s spent hour after hour helping in emergency rooms or COVID-19 hospital floors, fearing the unknown against a virus for which doctors and scientists have had few answers.

Frontline healthcare workers are being exposed to a virus that as of Monday had killed more than 1,500 people in Texas and more than 97,000 in the United States.

Some doctors and nurses have stayed away from their families for weeks, talking to them only on cell phones.

And they’re treating COVID-19 patients who are isolated in their rooms with no family around because of rules imposed by area hospitals.

“It’s just been a roller coaster of emotions,” Hicks said recently in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The stress level for healthcare workers has been through the roof these last few weeks.

Hicks hasn’t been alone. There are more than 400,000 Texas medical professionals who are fighting through the stress of battling the coronavirus.

To help in Texas, a group of mental health agencies and business leaders formed a nonprofit organization last month for healthcare workers, Mental Health for Heroes.

“They (healthcare workers) have been trained to pick themselves up by their bootstraps no matter what and keep pressing on.,” said Fort Worth attorney Travis Patterson of the Patterson Law Group, one of the founders of the new organization. “But they are human too, and we all have our limits. We have lined up licensed clinicians who have been trained specifically in working with the medical community. We are here to help.”

More than 50 mental health licensed clinicians from all over Texas have been trained to work with medical staffs.

To receive help, healthcare workers are encouraged to fill out a form at this website: https://mentalhealthforheroes.org/

North Texas not a good spot for GOP convention, judge says: ‘Please go somewhere else’

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins is not a fan of bringing the Republican National Convention to North Texas this summer.

Jenkins, a Democrat, rebuked the idea on social media Monday night after Vice President Mike Pence suggested Texas as a potential location if the convention was pulled from Charlotte, N.C.

“The last thing we need right now is a large gathering of nationwide visitors coming to Dallas given we are currently at ‘red,’ our highest threat level for COVID-19,” Jenkins posted on Twitter. “No offense. Would say the same thing to the Democrats — please go somewhere else.”

Earlier on Monday, President Trump threatened to move the August convention out of North Carolina after the state’s governor said he couldn’t promise the host arena would be allowed to fill to maximum attendance if coronavirus pandemic social distancing orders and guidelines are still necessary. Trump made the comments in a series of posts on Twitter.

Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey said “Texas would welcome President Trump and the RNC Convention.”

Fort Worth leaders arrive in COVID masks, mark Memorial Day in a touching ceremony

This year’s Memorial Day ceremony was as touching as it was brief.

Fort Worth’s elected leadership on Monday gathered at “The Spirit of the American Doughboy” and “American GI” statues at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Mayor Betsy Price, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, Congresswoman Kay Granger, state Sen. Beverly Powell and state Rep. Craig Goldman all wore face masks to the ceremony to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

The dignitaries briefly removed the masks before placing wreaths at the statue.

“I think it was pretty poignant, an uplifting touch,” Price said after the ceremony, when she again sported her mask. “And, it was the right thing to do.”

This year, the public wasn’t invited to the ceremony out of concern for the coronavirus, although a few dozen people could be seen visiting graves scattered throughout the grounds.

Organizers said it was the first time in 91 years the service, which is one of the oldest continually-held events of its kind in the United States, didn’t have a public audience.

Texas kids can go to camp, school and play sports. But is it safe as COVID cases rise?

Will your kids be safe?

That’s what many parents are wondering as they weigh the risks of sending their children to camp or school this summer as coronavirus cases continue to rise.

The answer to that question from some medical professionals: They don’t know.

“You’re stuck with very difficult choices,” said Dr. Priya Bui, a pediatrician and associate professor at the UNT Health Science Center. “If it was going to be over in a month or two, that’s one thing. But this is a marathon, not a sprint.

“Coronavirus is still out there. You know there are still new cases every day. But we still don’t know enough ... about how it’s going to affect children, not only when they originally have the infection, but about things that present later on. Are there long-term effects? We just don’t know.”

So parents need to talk through any decisions to be made, find out what precautions will be taken and then decide what they will let their children do this summer, Bui suggested.

Several doctors say they are nervous about the thought of so many kids interacting with others while coronavirus cases continue to grow. But they understand that some youths are tired and frustrated, maybe even depressed, from staying home and away from others for the past couple of months.

In rocky times, Clown Burger is still open: ‘Thank you from the bottom of our heart.’

Clown Burger’s faithful customers were worried.

In a late-night stream-of-consciousness online post, the owner and grill cook wrote that she was worried about having to close the beloved 1959-style hamburger stand at 5010 Stanley Keller Road.

Never fear. The Clown is alive.

It’s endured 61 years of ever-climbing beef prices, City Hall struggles, family upheaval and now, a global pandemic.

“I was trying to thank our loyal customers for helping keep our doors open,” said Kari Snodgrass, fighting to keep Clown Burger from changing too much even as she upgrades and expands the menu.

A new bacon-barbecue cheeseburger with grilled onions joins last year’s addition, grilled jalapeños.

The Clown’s business is mostly takeout, so coronavirus closings didn’t hurt it much. But tight money and high beef prices did.

But Friday, the lines were back, and burgers required a 30-minute wait.

$150K Facebook donation aims to keep Fort Worth-area students, families fed amid COVID

Facebook is helping area school children and their families with meals after school and on weekends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The social media giant gave United Way of Tarrant County $150,000 for its coronavirus emergency relief fund to help provide meals evenings and weekends for students and their families.

The funds will supplement what area school districts are already doing to provide food to the students.

“Area school districts have masterfully responded to the urgent nutritional needs of students and their families, but there is a need for evening and weekend meals especially for the whole family,” United Way president and CEO Leah King said in a news release.

This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 7:16 AM.