Coronavirus live updates June 19: 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 passes 200 COVID-19 deaths and 8,000 cases, with 6 new deaths reported
Tarrant County reported six more coronavirus deaths and 277 new cases on Thursday.
The latest pandemic deaths include three Keller residents, two Arlington residents and a Mansfield man in his 80s.
The Keller deaths included a woman in her 50s, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s. The two Arlington deaths were women in their 50s and 80s.
All six had underlying conditions, according to health officials.
Tarrant County has confirmed a total of 8,099 COVID-19 cases, including 205 deaths and at least 3,627 recoveries. The 277 cases are tentatively the third-most cases reported in a day in the county. There were 481 cases reported on May 9, 306 on June 11, and 276 on Wednesday, according to county data.
Of the total deaths in the county, about 46% have been white, 25% have been Hispanic, 24% have been Black, 3% have been Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1% each have been American Indian, other, and unreported.
Dallas County reports ‘tip of the iceberg’ of COVID-19 surge with 392 cases, 5 deaths
Dallas County reported 392 new coronavirus cases and five more deaths on Thursday.
County health officials also reported a pandemic-high 423 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Across the 19-county North Texas region, hospitalizations are up by 200 patients to 923, according to officials.
It’s the ninth consecutive day Dallas County has reported at least 300 new cases. The county has confirmed a total of 15,648 COVID-19 cases, including 307 deaths. The 392 cases reported Thursday are the second-highest single-day total. The 413 reported Wednesday are the most.
The latest deaths include a Grand Prairie woman in her 50s, a Dallas man in his 60s, a Carrollton man in his 80s, a Dallas man in his 90s, and a Mesquite man in his 90s who was a resident of a long-term care facility. The Mesquite man is the only one of the five with no underlying health condition.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned about the importance of increased hospitalizations.
“This number is the one to watch most closely as this represents the tip of the iceberg that you can see and gives an indication to the amount of COVID-19 cases spreading in the community that you are yet to see,” Jenkins said in a release.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations over Time
Coronavirus daily hospitalization counts in Texas and the larger Trauma Service Areas, beginning April 8, 2020. Data provided by Texas Health and Human Services.
Fort Worth mayor to isolate after contact with a person who has the novel coronavirus
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said Thursday night that she had had contact with a person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The mayor said she did not have symptoms of the virus and would isolate in an abundance of caution.
The contact was with a “community member” she did not describe.
Price was tested for the virus and said she would learn the result on Friday. She said she would not attend events until the test result is clear.
Fort Worth-area woman lost husband of 30 years to COVID. She knows it’s not the flu.
Going home is the worst. The door opens, and the silence and the quiet encroach at every step to remind Kelly Morton of her husband’s absence.
Joel Morton’s clothes are still there. If she is close, she can smell the cologne embedded into the fabric.
Going to work isn’t much better, because they worked together at the store they owned, Cactus Jack’s Boot Country in Alvarado. Going out isn’t that much better, because … where can you go?
“It’s hard to get up every day,” she said.
It’s been more than two months since her husband of 30 years, Joel, died of COVID-19. His was one of the first deaths in Tarrant County.
Morton has seen the numbers. She has read the news and the followed the debate of whether the measures to slow the spread were ultimately more harmful than helpful — that COVID is basically the flu.
She is a small business owner. She has lived all of this in way that few have.
“I just don’t know,” she said. “You can think what you want to think. This is all a very new disease. People who are healthy are getting it. Kids are getting it. Old people are getting it. Who knows?
“I think they are trying. But do I think this is real? Hell yeah, I think it’s real. It took my husband.”
Fort Worth area’s class of 2020 reflects on a senior year derailed by coronavirus
The novel coronavirus took prom, senior trips, traditional graduation ceremonies — and a slew of other senior moments — from the Class of 2020.
It also stripped them of the chance to say goodbye to teachers and longtime classmates along with traditions such as clap out, where seniors walk the halls of their elementary schools lined with younger students.
“I am truly disappointed with how the class of 2020 will end,” said Candy Sofia Villalba, a senior at O.D. Wyatt High School. “I never imagined that a pandemic like this (would) ever come.
“Of course everyone was hoping for a normal graduation, having normal senior activities, attending prom and just simply enjoying senior year like how the past seniors have.”
As Texas shut down businesses and schools and asked residents to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, students of all ages were caught in the middle.
But the Class of 2020 missed the most.
“How we get through this and handled it will go down in the history books,” said Mia Paladini, a senior at Arlington Lamar High School.
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.
Texas students will return to school in person this fall amid coronavirus, state says
Students across Texas’ public schools will return to campuses this fall, Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath told state lawmakers on a call Thursday morning.
“It will be safe for Texas public school students, teachers, and staff to return to school campuses for in-person instruction this fall. But there will also be flexibility for families with health concerns so that their children can be educated remotely, if the parent so chooses,” Morath said in a statement Thursday.
According to lawmakers on the call, districts will not be required to mandate face masks or test students for COVID-19 symptoms, and virtual components will be available for students and families who may be immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions or concerns.
Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from Houston, who tweeted details of the call, wrote Thursday that the agency “will not mandate masking for students, but will allow ISDs to make decisions that are ‘supported by science.’”
A spokesman for TEA confirmed the agency will not mandate masks. Detailed guidance is expected to be released from the agency Tuesday.
John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, said Thursday guidelines will include, “both in-person and virtual learning.”
Texas Longhorns report 13 football players test positive for COVID-19, school says
On Thursday, the University of Texas athletics department announced that 13 football players have been confirmed positive for the coronavirus, or are presumed positive, ESPN and other outlets reported.
“Including two reported from initial surveillance testing last week, as of Thursday, Texas Athletics has had 13 total Football student-athletes who have confirmed positive, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine & Performance Allen Hardin said,” the statement from the university read. “All 13 are now self-isolating.”
Ten more players are in self-quarantine after contact tracing, the statement reads, and four football players have tested positive for the COVID-19 antibody.
The names of the players who tested positive have not been released, KVUE reported.
At least 9 North Texas schools impacted by COVID-19 after latest athlete tests positive
Multiple schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have been hit with the coronavirus this week, including Southlake Carroll, forcing it to close a part of its summer strength and conditioning program.
The district was notified on Tuesday that one of its high school football players tested positive for COVID-19 while attending the sport-specific workout in the indoor facility and weight room at Carroll Senior High School.
According to Carroll ISD, the student-athlete showed initial symptoms that included sore throat and heavy breathing after attending workouts on June 8 and June 9. The student became ill and hasn’t returned since.
CISD reported 300 high school students in all sports during last week’s workouts.
In a email obtained by the Star-Telegram from Carroll ISD and Superintendent Dr. David Faltys, “Coaches and athletes in the student’s cohort group have already been contacted individually. The coaches and athletes in this small cohort group will be required to quarantine for two weeks and will not be allowed back to workouts during that period per the University Interscholastic League rules.
“Based on the information that we have gathered, it has been determined that the end of the 14-day incubation period for anyone possibly exposed to this student athlete is Wednesday, June 24.”
Hospitalizations of coronavirus patients in Texas reach all-time high for seventh day
Hospitalizations of patients with the novel coronavirus in Texas reached an all-time high for the seventh consecutive day Thursday.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, 2,947 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Thursday — an increase of 154 patients from the previous record of 2,793 patients hospitalized Wednesday.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients have set records for 10 of the past 11 days. Last week, hospitalizations broke records from Monday through Wednesday, before dipping back down to 2,008 patients on Thursday. Since then, hospitalizations have continued to reach new all-time highs.