Coronavirus live updates July 24: 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.
Arlington family shares ‘uncertainty’, ‘great fear’ after young sons develop COVID-19
An Arlington family’s “great fear” came to fruition when two of their three children tested positive for novel coronavirus. Now, the family is quarantining together at home — while urging others to heed public health experts’ warnings.
Jeff and Catherine Carlton brought Scott, 11, to Cook Children’s Medical Center after Scott became constipated, experienced daily retching and had his fever surpass 102 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a news release from the hospital.
“This had been our great fear since mid-March,” Jeff Carlton, executive director of media and communications at UT Arlington, said in the release. “Scotty has numerous underlying medical conditions that make him susceptible. If there’s a cold out there, Scotty will catch it.
“For Scotty, COVID-19 can be a death sentence. We’re frightfully aware that it still could be.”
The next day, their youngest son, 9-year-old Jeffrey, tested positive for coronavirus as well, along with a nurse who looks after Scott during weekdays.
The family of five is now under quarantine together with their sons and their daughter, Jenna. The Carltons said they can neither send Jenna away because she may be asymptomatic, nor can they visit the children’s grandparents down the street.
Hometown Heroes: This Fort Worth-area couple battles COVID-19 in the hospital, and on the streets
Beth and Daniel Stewart’s lives were turned upside down by the novel coronavirus, but they haven’t stopped grinding away at their work — and their busy family life.
Beth Stewart is a registered nurse in the emergency room at Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB in Bedford, working an overnight shift to help patients with COVID-19 and many other illnesses and injuries.
Daniel Stewart is a firefighter/paramedic in Bedford, where he responds to 911 calls for just about any fathomable emergency on the city streets and in people’s homes and businesses.
The Stewarts, who have busily juggled their schedules while also raising two young children in their North Richland Hills home, are being A coronavirus outbreak among residents and staff at a nursing home.
Hometown Heroes is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, which is providing $1,000 each week over 28 weeks to those selected by the Star-Telegram to be featured in the series.
“Ordinary people who do their jobs in extraordinary times. That describes Beth and Daniel Stewart,” said Ann Thompson, a friend who nominated the Stewarts for the recognition.
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.
Dallas-Fort Worth church ‘ignoring’ coronavirus outbreak among campers, parents say
A Grapevine church that has hosted summer camps for children over the past month recognized as part of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Hometown Heroes series, according to church members and parents.
Fellowship Church has held multiple retreats at its retreat center, Allaso Ranch, which is located about 85 miles east of Dallas in Hawkins. Photos posted by the church on social media show hundreds of people, mask-less, gathered for group photos and concerts.
At least 80 people who attended the camp tested positive for coronavirus, one mother, who asked her name not be used for legal reasons, said. Her daughter had to go to the emergency room after spending two weeks volunteering at the camp, and she tested positive for coronavirus. She said the church only started reaching out to parents about possible exposure after she posted on the church’s Facebook page that her daughter tested positive.
The church has not posted publicly about attendees catching COVID-19 from the camp.
A spokesman from Fellowship Church said the church followed Centers for Disease Control guidelines and called parents if a camper had symptoms or was in close contact with someone who did.
“This summer, Fellowship Church held several life-changing weeks of camp for kids and students,” the spokesman said via email. “We believe that the church partnering with parents is essential to the success of children.”
The church did not answer questions from the Star-Telegram about how many children were sent home with symptoms or how many tested positive after attending.
Tarrant County reports 9 new coronavirus deaths; hospitalizations creeping up again
Tarrant County reported nine coronavirus deaths and 431 new cases on Thursday.
The latest COVID-19 deaths include a Fort Worth woman in her 20s and Euless and Fort Worth men in their 40s. The deaths include six Fort Worth residents and one each in Euless, Arlington and Grand Prairie.
The ages also include a man in his 60s, two men and a woman in their 70s, and a man and a woman in their 80s.
Eight of the nine patients had underlying health conditions. County health officials did not report which one did not.
The county’s single-day record high for reported COVID-19 deaths was 11 on May 27, which combined multiple days of data following Memorial Day.
Tarrant County has confirmed a total of 23,967 COVID-19 cases, including 319 deaths and at least 11,680 recoveries.
As of Tuesday, the county’s COVID-19 hospitalizations increased to 702, including 169 in ICU, according to county data. That’s the second-most hospitalizations reported in the county after 708 reported on July 16, which included 157 patients in ICU.
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.
Judge asks Abbott to close slew of businesses as Dallas County reports 12 COVID deaths
Dallas County reported 648 new coronavirus cases and 12 deaths on Thursday.
The latest deaths, which follow Wednesday’s single-day record 30, include 10 Dallas residents, and one each in Richardson and Rowlett.
Among the 12 latest COVID-19 deaths, the ages include a man in his 30s, five men in their 60s, women in their 70s and 80s, a man in his 80s, and two women and a man in their 90s. Three of the 12 patients did not have underlying health conditions, including two women in their 90s and a man in his 60s. Four of the patients were residents of long-term care facilities.
Dallas County has confirmed a total of 44,087 COVID-19 cases, including 579 deaths.
The county reported fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day after 18 consecutive days with more than 1,000 new cases.
“It’s still a little too early to call this a trend but I’m encouraged by the lowering of the number of new cases,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in news release and an on social media.
Jenkins called for Gov. Greg Abbott to close businesses where face covering can’t be worn at all times, including topless bars and cigar bars.
“In the time of COVID-19, there is no reason that traditional bars to be closed but topless bars and cigar bars to remain open,” he said. “The doctors and I strongly recommend that you avoid participating in activities where masks cannot be worn 100% of the time by everyone there, such as in-restaurant dining, youth sports, community pools, high-intensity workout classes, gyms, day camps, arcades, movie theaters, bowling alleys, amusement parks, concert venues, sporting arenas, group weddings, or other large events.”
Editorial: Timing of Fort Worth ‘Rockin’ the River’ concerts amid COVID-19 surge was a sour note
Schools are closed. Bars, too. Business reopenings are paused. Restaurants are struggling to hang on. State and local leaders are begging people to stay home as much as possible to ease the spike in COVID-19 cases.
So what was a local government entity, the Tarrant Regional Water District, thinking when it promoted weekly summer events to bring people to Panther Island Pavilion to drink, listen to live music and tube the river?
The first Saturday event, known as Rockin’ the River, was halted when attorneys for Fort Worth expressed concern that the water authority hadn’t sought city permission. The water district contends that, as a local government, it has power under Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency declarations to conduct events.
For now, the concerts are on hold, awaiting input from the attorney general’s office. But even if the district prevails, the district should rethink these events. If necessary, its board should step in and stop them.
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.
Fort Worth-area nursing home reacted too late to COVID outbreak, nurse and families say
A coronavirus outbreak among residents and staff at a nursing home in Azle grew in part due to a lack of basic safety measures until after the sickness arrived, according to an employee and family members of residents.
At least 60 of about 120 Azle Manor residents are believed to have COVID-19, filling three out of six halls in the facility, the employee, who is a nurse, said. A total of 25 nurses and certified nursing assistants with the virus have been asked to go home, the nurse said.
Three family members of residents told the Star-Telegram officials informed them in phone calls late on July 15 that their loved ones had tested positive and were moved to one of the isolated halls. The news, they said, came as a shock — especially because for weeks they had believed there was only one case, which was under control.
A woman whose mother lives in the facility said she wasn’t too concerned when an official called her on July 6 to tell her one resident had tested positive and everyone would be tested. But last week, having received no updates from Azle Manor, she started seeing social media posts about a crisis unfolding at the nursing home. On the night of July 15, she got the call that her mother, who is in her late 80s, had COVID-19.
The woman said she began messaging with nurses over Facebook who told her about the approximate size of the outbreak and growing discontent among staff.
The nurse who spoke with the Star-Telegram says residents were allowed to roam with no social distancing or mask mandates as recently as last week. The nurse said staff members had not been told how many residents actually had the coronavirus.
Reached over the phone and informed about this story, Azle Manor administrator Kinny Pack said he had no comment. Anybody “can say anything,” he said.
The woman whose mother is in the facility said she called the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services on July 17 to tell them the nursing home was misleading the public about an outbreak. The agency was at Azle Manor over the weekend and on Monday investigating, the nurse said.