Coronavirus live updates June 2: Here’s what to know in the Dallas-Fort Worth area
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 coronavirus cases have trended down the past 5 days, county data shows
Tarrant County reported 21 new coronavirus cases and no deaths on Monday.
New COVID-19 cases have decreased the past five days, according to data that tracks when positive test results are reported to the county.
No deaths have been reported to county officials since Friday.
Those official numbers are provisional and can change as new data is received.
The county has confirmed a total of 5,534 COVID-19 cases, including 165 deaths and 2,324 recoveries.
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.
Dallas County reports more than 200 new coronavirus cases for 5th consecutive day
For the second consecutive day Dallas County reported 228 new coronavirus cases Monday.
The county reported no deaths for the first time since Thursday. Dallas County has confirmed a total of 10,462 COVID-19 cases, including 229 deaths.
“The more important numbers at this point are actually hospitalizations, ER visits and ICU admissions for COVID-19 and those graphs remain flat,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a release and on social media. “We have not seen any of the decline that the CDC and the local doctors tell us is necessary to loosen the standards on activities that will keep you, your family and our community safe.”
Jenkins urged residents to continue practicing social distancing.
“Please continue to avoid large crowds, maintain six-foot distancing when out, wear a cloth face covering on public transportation and in businesses not only to protect yourself but as a sign of respect and protection for everyone you come into contact with, and maintain good hand hygiene.”
Here’s another chance to support downtown Arlington restaurants, for a charitable cause
Spring in Texas has always been a perfect time to go to the drive-in.
Folks in Arlington can enjoy good food and free live music as Downtown Arlington Management Corporation is hosting a Drive-In Restaurant Rally, Thursday through Sunday. The event is a call to action in support of small and locally owned businesses.
The restaurant rally coincides with the Texas Rangers’ Concert in Your Car live music event, which will be held nearby in a lot adjacent to Globe Life Field.
“Downtown Arlington has built a solid reputation over the last decade for our homegrown restaurant and bar scene, locally brewed craft beer, and start-up communities,” said Maggie Campbell, President and CEO of DAMC. “These businesses have shown incredible resiliency in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, but now they need our help. If we rally for them, they will rally for us.”
Partial proceeds generated benefit Mission Arlington, a nonprofit that provides services such as food, clothing, and medical care to families in need.
Also, patrons will have the option to make additional contributions directly.
‘COVID-19, you will not stop Juneteenth’: Fort Worth organizers to have first event Friday
Civil rights activist Opal Lee, 93, will walk 2.5 miles from the Fort Worth Convention Center to the Will Rogers Coliseum on June 19 to symbolize the 2.5 years it took for slaves in Texas to know they were freed.
The event was announced Monday at the Lenora Rolla Heritage Center Museum. The walk and other scheduled events are part of the Annual Juneteenth Fort Worth Celebration. The event will also be live-streamed.
Juneteenth celebrates the arrival of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union in Galveston on June 19, 1865, with the news that the Civil War was over and slaves had been freed. The message came 2.5 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves.
Over 40 states recognize the day as a state holiday, but it is not yet a national holiday.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused this year’s celebration to change, said Dione Sims, executive director of the nonprofit Unity Unlimited, which hosted Monday’s announcement of the Juneteenth events. Instead of a big celebration that was planned, organizers scaled back events, but knew a celebration had to happen.
“COVID-19, you will not stop Juneteenth,” Sims said alongside those at the Monday event.
A Fort Worth ice cream shop is reopening. But then it closes forever due to COVID-19
Alchemy Pops finally has a neighborhood to serve, but now it’s closing.
After two years, the gourmet popsicle shop in South Main Village is taking a victory lap of sorts, opening Saturday and closing permanently Aug. 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alchemy, 411 S. Main St., will open weekends only in June and July before closing, owner Carolyn Phillips said in an announcement.
Phillips wrote that Alchemy’s existence “relies on large social gatherings” and as a result, “this pandemic will cost her her pop shop.”
Phillips started her shop in 2015 as a catering business with a popsicle cart she bought off Craigslist. That before frozen treats became as common and about the same time as when Alabama-based fancy-popsicle stand Steel City Pops moved into Fort Worth.
Texas sales tax revenue drops 13.2% amid coronavirus; steepest decline in a decade
Texas’ sales tax revenue totaled $2.61 billion in May, resulting in the steepest year-over-year decline the state has seen in a decade, Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday.
May’s sales tax revenue is 13.2% less than it was in May of 2019 when it totaled about $3 billion, and Hegar attributed much of the decline to stay-at-home orders and business closures that led to a drop in economic activity. The majority of May sales’ tax revenue is based on sales made in April, when Texas was under a statewide stay-at-home order.
“Significant declines in sales tax receipts were evident in all major economic sectors, with the exception of telecommunications services,” Hegar, the state’s chief financial officer, said in a statement Monday. “The steepest decline was in collections from oil and gas mining, as energy companies cut well drilling and completion spending following the crash in oil prices.”
The novel coronavirus has rocked the economy, and stay-at-home orders and closures have led to record job losses and claims for unemployment insurance. In April, oil prices dropped below zero.
Sales tax revenue, which is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, has been on the decline for months. Collections totaled $2.58 billion in April — 9.3% less than in April 2019, and at the time was the steepest decline since January 2010, according to a news release from the Comptroller’s Office last month.
In Fort Worth, officials anticipate the decline in spending will lead to the city’s general fund taking in $40 million less than expected from sales tax while the police fund will be down $14 million. The public events budget will also take a roughly $14 million hit this year.