Coronavirus live updates July 27: 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.
Fort Worth-area parents upset about online-only school for 6 weeks plan Monday protest
Jennifer Edmondson Treger is sad and frustrated.
She, along with many other parents, wanted students to physically be back in school next month and they were shocked when Tarrant County’s top health authorities on Tuesday announced that classes would be online only for the most part for the first six weeks.
Treger said she’s worried about children who don’t have the connectivity or knowledge to access online learning. She’s worried about parents who can’t go back to work because their children are at home. And she’s worried about the children at risk of child abuse or malnutrition because they can’t go to the one safe space they know — school.
“Vulnerable children are getting left behind,” said Treger, a mother of three children who attend public school in Fort Worth. “Kids need to be in school.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of like-minded parents who believe this,” she said. “After all the finger pointing at all the different people, no one is claiming responsibility. This is the only way to get our voices heard for those children.”
So she and other like-minded parents plan to show up outside the many parents across Tarrant County are facing difficult decisions — and likely again during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting — to protest. They hope to draw the attention of Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley.
Fort Worth parents in ‘impossible position’ with schools restarting online amid COVID
For Christina Segundo-Hernández, returning to her job handling packages for the United Parcel Service full-time depended on her kids going back to school this fall.
But after Tuesday’s announcement that Tarrant County schools will start online only for six weeks, she said she will have to go back to being a stay-at-home mom and full-time teacher.
Over the summer, she’s been able to pick up a few shifts at UPS after she left in April to care for her four school-aged kids, including an 8-year-old boy with autism. Her husband works in construction, so it was up to her to make sure they were getting school assignments done.
“It’s not like I could just hand my boy with autism an iPad and expect him to learn,” she said. “Childcare for him alone costs more than what it costs for my three girls. And now, with unemployment gone and no stimulus check, I definitely don’t have a choice.”
Like Segundo-Hernández, Her case and dozens of others because they’ll have to continue online learning for at least another six weeks.
They know many kids have been cooped up at home, first for stay-at-home orders and then as the number of coronavirus cases grew locally and across the state and country. And many parents say their children need the face-to-face interaction with teachers and students alike to thrive.
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.
Euless man with COVID-19 dies after paramedics convince him to stay home, family says
A Euless man with COVID-19 symptoms was talked out of going to a local hospital by paramedics and died in his home just a few hours later, his family said.
Test results received after his death indicated 41-year-old Andrew Norman had COVID-19, his family said.
The family called 911 on July 18, and Grapevine paramedics responded because Euless paramedics were busy, according to Norman’s sister. Norman signed a refusal of treatment form after a Grapevine paramedic told him, “OK, we can take you to the hospital if you want, but I’m just warning you that you are probably going to be in waiting in a waiting room alone for hours, and by the time they get to you, they are gonna tell you to go home because there is no cure for this virus,” Norman’s sister, Michelle Tyler, wrote on social media.
Michelle Tyler also said during the time the Grapevine paramedics and a Euless fire lieutenant were at the family’s home, they never took her brother’s vital signs.
Grapevine paramedics and the Euless fire official left the home, but the family called 911 a second time about four hours later when Norman’s body began to “completely shut down,” Tyler wrote. Euless paramedics arrived and tried to revive Norman, but he died.
“Any call involving the Euless Fire Department that results in a loss of life is taken very seriously and all aspects of the call response are thoroughly reviewed,” said Euless City Manager Loretta Getchell in an email to the Star-Telegram. “We express our sincerest condolences to the members of this family.”
Getchell said the City of Euless Fire Department did respond to a call on July 18 at the noted address, and Euless fire officials requested mutual aid from a City of Grapevine medic as Euless medics were on other calls.
“Mutual aid response is the normal protocol when call volume is high,” Getchell said. “The patient was not transported as a result of this call.”
Grapevine officials could not be reached for comment.
Bars across Tarrant County opened Saturday in protest of state COVID-19 rules
Four Tarrant County bars were among hundreds to open their doors against state rules Saturday night in protest of restrictions meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Chris Polone, owner of The Rail Club Live in Fort Worth and organizer of Saturday’s Freedom Fest, said the protest was a challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to close bars and a call for him to sit down with local bar owners and discuss regulations.
Abbott ordered bars across the state to reshutter their doors June 26 after confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus spiked across the state.
The move was an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, but bar owners said they did more Saturday to prevent the spread of the virus than most restaurants do on a daily basis.
The Rail Club Live and Eight Ball Billiard in Fort Worth, G Willikers Pub in Arlington and Burleson’s Cooter Brown’s welcomed patrons back into their bar rooms Saturday.
The Rail Club Live opened without making any sales of alcohol after its liquor license was suspended for 30 days on July 4, when the music venue defied state orders to host an Independence Day party.
Polone said the bar didn’t have any liquor bottles on display and it wasn’t making a dime off being open.
Representatives of all of the local participating bars told the Star-Telegram at various times throughout Saturday night that they hadn’t seen or heard from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission but were ready to face any consequences for reopening.
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 expands free COVID-19 saliva testing after single-site pilot program
Fort Worth is expanding its free COVID-19 saliva testing program after what fire department spokesman Mike Drivdahl called in a news release an “exceedingly successful pilot program.”
The city tested 1,339 Tarrant County residents at JP Elder Middle School in Fort Worth in the first week of the pilot program. That location will continue to offer saliva tests as the city adds the Dickies Arena parking garage as a second test site starting Tuesday.
“Expanding the testing capacity and increasing accessibility within our community was the natural next step after the initial saliva testing pilot program exceeded all metrics and expectations,” Mayor Betsy Price said in the news release. “Fort Worth will continue to expand testing capacity and turnaround time as we work to maintain the community’s health and economy.”
The program is being done through a partnership between the city and Tarrant County.
Both sites will require appointments made in advance and will require everybody to stay in their vehicles and wear masks when feasible, according to the release.
Patients should bring a smartphone to the testing site, which will be used to link the testing materials to the patient’s profile. Patients who do not have access to a smartphone can receive assistance from staff on-site, officials said.
Online registration for the testing is at covidtesting.tarrantcounty.com. Residents who do not have access to a computer may call 817-248-6299 to schedule their appointment.
The tests are free to everybody, but patients with insurance should bring their insurance information. The county will attempt to bill your insurance to offset the cost of the tests, but you will not be charged anything.
Tarrant County reports four deaths, 353 new COVID-19 infections Sunday
Tarrant County reported four new deaths and 353 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing totals to 348 deaths and 25,499 confirmed infections since the pandemic began.
A woman older than 100 in Grand Prairie, a man in his 70s from Fort Worth, a woman in her 60s from Fort Worth and a man in his 60s from Arlington died of the virus, the county reported Sunday. All of them had underlying health conditions.
The county reported 12,549 recoveries, though the county website tracking COVID-19 statistics says hospitals and patients are not required to report recoveries. Deaths and recoveries are counted in the total number of confirmed cases.
The highest number of confirmed cases have been in the two largest cities, Fort Worth and Arlington, with 11,643 and 4,925, respectively. Fort Worth has reported 187 deaths while Arlington confirmed 56.
The next highest number of infections came from Mansfield, with 566 total confirmed cases. Keller had the third highest number of coronavirus deaths at 17 with no change over the last week.
Dallas County reports one new death, 800 new confirmed COVID-19 infections Sunday
Dallas County reported one new death and 800 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing totals to 605 confirmed deaths and 46,813 infections since the pandemic began.
The death was a man in his 40s from Dallas who had underlying high-risk health conditions. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, according to a news release from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Of the 605 confirmed cases as of Sunday, about a third of them have been among residents of long-term care facilities.
More than 1,450 cases in the first three weeks of June were among children under the age of 18, according to the release. During that time, 29 children were admitted to hospitals, including four in intensive care.
About 80% of hospitalized patients who reported their employment were essential workers, ranging from construction workers to finance employees to those working in food service and agriculture.
More than two-thirds of those hospitalized were under the age of 65.
CARES Act was meant to stop COVID-19 evictions. But in Fort Worth, it’s often ignored.
Philippa Belser sat in the front row of a Fort Worth courtroom for an eviction hearing July 22. It was a place she didn’t belong.
She was late on rent, she said, after being laid off from her job at the Petmate warehouse because of the coronavirus, but her inability to pay shouldn’t have landed her in court. In late March, President Donald Trump signed a federal moratorium on evictions under the CARES Act. The Act forbade landlords from filing evictions for unpaid rent at properties that accepted Housing Choice vouchers or were backed by federal mortgages or low-income housing tax credits. Belser’s complex, the Vistana Apartments, accepts Housing Choice vouchers, according to Tarrant County records.
“They should have never filed it,” Belser said.
She was right. why her K-12 small private school cannot open illustrate how the CARES Act, because of unclear federal guidance and a lax verification process for Texas judges, has often not lived up to its intended function in Tarrant County. The Star-Telegram researched 942 evictions filed in county courts from June 1 through July 14 and found at least 119, about 13%, were filed at properties that appear to be covered under the CARES Act (the numbers were obtained using open records requests, court records and publicly available databases).
In Belser’s case, the apartment complex’s representative admitted at the hearing the property was covered by the CARES Act, and the eviction was dismissed. Other times, the courts have finalized eviction judgments in favor of the landlords in properties that appear to be covered by the Act.
Snake bites rise in Texas as people spend more time outside due to COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic drives more people to participate in outdoor activities, doctors warn of a slight uptick in snake bites this summer.
Texas Health Resources facilities statewide have seen a total of 98 snake bite patients so far this summer between May and July, according to a press release. This isn’t much higher than last year’s average, but Dr. Glenn Hardesty, an emergency medicine physician at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, wants to caution those engaging in increased outdoor activity to be alert.
There haven’t been any deaths recorded in Texas this year related to snake bites, and nationally, mortality rates are low. However, medical costs associated with bites can cost up to $100,000, Hardesty said.
The most common venomous snakes that bite people in North Texas are copperheads, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes. It’s also important to note that North Texas is home to the Texas rat snake, a non-venomous snake that controls the rodent population. Either way, people should avoid interaction with non-venomous and venomous snakes, doctors advise.
To get a break from working from home, people are going outdoors, where they are encountering more snakes.
“People are encountering more wildlife due to gardening, yard work, and walking outside to get a break from working at home,” Hardesty said in the release.
Non-religious private school in Fort Worth suburb asks to open next month
Kim Olstrup, who owns the Midcities Montessori private school, has been working on preparations to reopen since May.
She is now questioning why her K-12 small private school cannot open on Aug. 17 while private schools with religious affiliations can do so.
She also contacted Tarrant County officials but said she did not get a response.
“I don’t understand what makes me so different from a private religious school down the street or a karate studio that is open all day long where kids can go,” she said.
Earlier this week, the county’s top health officials signed a joint order stating that public schools and non-religious private schools would have to hold virtual classes until at least September 28.
The order does not apply to private schools with religious affiliations. Last week, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued guidelines saying that private religious schools can decide whether to open.