Coronavirus live updates July 15: Here’s what to know in the Dallas-Fort Worth area
For the second day in a row, Tarrant County reported no new coronavirus related deaths on Tuesday.
About 540 new COVID-19 cases are expected, officials said. This would bring the total number of cases to more than 19,000, with 272 deaths.
County health director Vinny Taneja asked the Commissioners Court for 270 temporary contract staff to help with COVID-19 efforts. The county is seeing 3,000 to 4,000 new cases per week.
Monday’s county data showed that COVID-19 patients were using about 17% of all occupied hospital beds in the count. About 69% of all hospital beds in the county are occupied. About 37% of the county’s ventilators are in use.
Tarrant County hospital capacity
Hospital capacity by available beds and ventilators for Tarrant County. Data provided by Tarrant County Public Health.
Parker County reconsiders stance on gatherings
Parker County officials are reconsidering their stance on gatherings after fans ignored social distance guidelines and failed to wear face coverings during last week’s rodeo in Weatherford.
Parker County Judge Pat Deen said the county did everything it could to encourage people to comply with Gov. Greg Abbott’s order during the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo, which ran from July 7-11. There were signs and public address announcements, and attendees were given face coverings, Deen said.
Deen said Parker County and Weatherford officials will be meeting to discuss whether a rodeo scheduled for September should be allowed.
“If we cannot put those people in safe positions that event will not happen,” he said.
Deen said members of the Parker County public safety team were present during last week’s event, but he is not aware of any citations. Additional fire and safety personnel were assigned as officials became aware that people were not following Abbott’s order, including Parker County Emergency Management Coordinator Sean Hughes. Hughes did not respond to messages.
“It was difficult to maintain compliance once the event wore on,” Deen said. “There were pictures that were taken that showed there was some non-compliance. We will learn from that. We were trying to be proactive, yet not overreact.”
Tarrant County denies proposal for extra COVID-19 help
Tarrant County commissioners denied the health director’s request on Tuesday to add up to 270 temporary epidemiologists and nurses to assist in COVID-19 contact tracing and investigations amid surging case counts in the county.
County Health Director Vinny Taneja asked the court for contract workers to help with case investigation and contact tracing. He would have hired epidemiologists and nurses. The costs would have been paid for with money from FEMA and the CARES Act. There were no estimates on the costs or lengths of contracts.
County Judge Glen Whitley and commissioners Gary Fickes and J.D. Johnson voted against Taneja’s proposal. Roy Brooks and Devan Allen voted for it.
“We needed the staffing, as you can see, the cases are growing,” Taneja said in an interview after the vote. “It just puts us in a little bit of a setback of more time needed to re-evaluate how to strategize and move forward. So we’ll work on that.”
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than tripled in Tarrant County since June 1. Positive cases have nearly tripled and the test positivity rate, which was supposed to fall as more people got tested, has quadrupled over the last few weeks, from 5% to almost 20%
Whitley said there was not enough information on where more than 200 people would work, if they had enough equipment for them or who would manage them.
“I need more details before I’m willing to commit that kind of money, even if it’s CARES Act money,” he said.
The county hired about 60 temporary employees to contact trace in May. Taneja said after the meeting that the commissioners want to see the results of those hires. Usually, these workers get a case, call the person who’s infected, ask them who’ve they’ve been in contact with and build a list of people they need to call.
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.
Estimated active cases over time
Coronavirus daily active case estimates by local counties in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex, beginning April 8, 2020. Data provided by Texas Health and Human Services.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
