Coronavirus live updates July 28: 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.
Want children in school? Then ‘push back,’ Tarrant County judge tells parents
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley had some advice Monday for parents who showed up downtown to protest a recent public health order declaring that their children can’t go back to school in person for the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year.
“Be vocal,” he urged parents. “Let’s hear a little push back.”
Dozens of parents showed up downtown to show their frustration with the order issued in Tarrant County because of spiking coronavirus cases. They fear this will leave some at risk of child abuse or malnutrition because they can’t go to school, which is the one safe space they know. And they fear countless students will fall behind and not be able to catch up.
“We all care about the kids of Tarrant County,” Beth Wieser, a mother of three elementary school children and a family practice physician in Fort Worth, said after the meeting. “We all know that COVID or no COVID, the safest place for any child to be is in a school.”
As Wieser and a dozen other parents spoke with Whitley for about two hours, other parents watched the conversation that was broadcast outside to the crowd. They carried signs that said “It can be done safely,” “Children must be in school” and “Education is more important than your agenda.”
Whitley said he wants students back at school as soon as possible. And he suggested that parents make their desires heard to school officials, the county public health authority and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Over 750 residents in Tarrant nursing homes, assisted living facilities have had COVID
In Tarrant County nursing homes and assisted living facilities, there have been over 750 residents and more than 400 employees who contracted the novel coronavirus, and at least 140 residents who died and tested positive for it, according to detailed data released for the first time Monday by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
The state also released figures on COVID-19 cases in state supported living facilities and state hospitals. Monday’s release on which nursing homes and assisted living facilities have reported COVID-19 cases in Texas comes after the Attorney General’s Office ruled earlier this month that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission must publicly release the names of facilities that have had outbreaks.
HHSC had previously cited HIPPA privacy laws as a reason for withholding the names of facilities, despite calls for increased transparency. The figures shed new light on the scope of where COVID-19 infections are occurring and at which facilities.
“HHSC has a legal and ethical obligation to protect the private health information of everyone we serve, both in the private facilities we regulate and those we operate,” former HHSC Executive Commissioner Phil Wilson said in a statement Monday. “We appreciate the guidance from the Attorney General of Texas, which allows us to release this additional data while maintaining important personal privacy protections.”
Data will be updated on HHSC’s website weekdays by 3 p.m. All data from nursing homes and assisted living facilities is self-reported, and does not include residents who may have been discharged from a facility. While HHSC investigates every nursing home and assisted living facility that reports a positive case, it notes that the data is provisional, and that the agency cannot verify the accuracy of each facility’s report.
Tarrant assisted living facilities cases
Here are the self-reported COVID-19 case counts in residents and staff at licensed Tarrant County assisted living facilities. You can search by city, assisted living facility name, and also sort by columns.
Azle nursing home resident who died of COVID ‘deserved more respect,’ daughter says
Hours before 85-year-old Anita Mayfield died of coronavirus complications, her daughter was allowed to be with her in person for the first time in four months.
Jan Stallons sat close to her mom, a resident of the Azle Manor nursing home, in an emergency room late on July 18. The long-suffering diabetic had been moved to Texas Health Harris Hospital in Fort Worth due to her worsening condition, Stallons said, and doctors determined liquid was filling her lungs. Mayfield was incoherent and unresponsive as she lay in her bed.
From the time Stallons was informed of her mother’s COVID-19 diagnosis only three days earlier, she had thought of it as a death sentence. But she couldn’t have known it would be this quick.
Stallons, covered in protective gear like the nurses, squeezed Mayfield’s hand through plastic gloves, savoring the contact she had been denied at Azle Manor since March due to the pandemic. She told her mom it was OK for her to go freely, she said. She told her she loved her.
About three hours after she left the hospital, around 1:30 a.m. on July 19, she got the phone call that Mayfield was dead.
“I wasn’t able to comfort her at all. That made it real rough,” Stallons told the Star-Telegram over the phone. “The thought that she went through this alone makes me even more angry.”
Stallons, an Azle resident, believes her mother might have been suffering at the nursing home for longer than she had known, and that the outbreak at Azle Manor was worse than management had let on. She also believes staff weren’t taking the virus seriously enough, based on the lack of social distancing she would see when she visited with her mother through her bedroom window.
A nurse who spoke with the Star-Telegram last week said though employees don’t know how many of the roughly 120 residents are infected, there are believed to be at least 60 cases since three out of six halls are filled with COVID-19 patients. Twenty-five staff members with the virus have also been asked to go home, the nurse said.
Reached on the phone over the weekend and asked if he had a comment, Azle Manor Administrator Kinny Pack said, “No, sir, I don’t.”
Tarrant Nursing facilities case counts
Here are the self-reported COVID-19 case counts in residents and staff at licensed Tarrant County nursing facilities. You can search by city, nursing facility name, and also sort by columns.
‘It can happen to you,’ says this Arlington family as sons recover from coronavirus
After over a week under heavy lockdown, an Arlington family is “cautiously optimistic” about their sons’ recovery from novel coronavirus.
Sunday, June 26, marked the first day in around two weeks that Catherine Carlton could hug 11-year-old Scotty and 9-year-old Jeffrey. The duo, who were diagnosed earlier in the month, account for two of over 25,000 positive cases reported in Tarrant County and nearly 5,000 cases in Arlington, according to county data.
“Jeffrey quite literally almost tackled me as I came out of the bedroom door,” she recalled. Because the boys’ conditions improved over the weekend, the family could ease restrictions and begin a 14-day isolation period. “That made their weekend better.”
But the family of five is wary of the next round of uncertainties. Scotty, described by his parents as a delightful boy with a contagious smile, was diagnosed with lissencephaly as an infant. Called “smooth brain,” the condition is a brain malformation that inhibits development, the ability to swallow and other bodily functions. Diagnosed weeks after birth, Scotty is more susceptible to illness.
“If it’s out there, he’ll probably catch it,” Jeff Carlton said. “It tends to be more serious in him than it is in a more typical kid.”
Jeffrey, whose parents described him as healthy, athletic and energetic, still has lingering headaches that are “scary to watch,” Catherine Carlton said.
Texas A&M facility in College Station set to mass-produce potential COVID-19 vaccine
Texas is poised to play a key role in the country’s efforts to produce a COVID-19 vaccine after the Trump administration awarded Texas A&M with a $265 million contract to prepare to mass-produce a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The Texas A&M University System Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, which includes three facilities owned and operated by subcontractor Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, is set to mass-manufacture a vaccine candidate being developed by Maryland-based Novavax, according to a Texas A&M press release. It is one of several candidates that the federal government has identified as promising and that have been sent to clinical trials.
“Getting a vaccine remains a top priority,” President Trump said during a July 21 news conference. “We’re mass producing all of the top candidates so that the first approved vaccine will be available immediately.”
The federal funding will go toward expanding the facility in College Station and keeping it on reserve for when mass production of the vaccine could begin. Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is set to start production of millions of vaccines in early 2021 if Novavax’s vaccine is successful.
“The Texas A&M System is ready to save lives and help protect the country,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, in a statement. “This whole project is a triple win. It’s a win for the Texas A&M System. It’s a win for FDB. It’s a win for the nation.”
The federal government contracted Novavax on July 6 as part of its billion-dollar initiative Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021, according to the Department of Health and Human Services website. On July 6, the government awarded Novavax $1.6 billion to support clinical trials and manufacturing, according to the New York Times. If the trials succeed, Novavax expects to deliver 100 million doses for use in the United States by the first quarter of 2021.
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.
Texas officials alter the way COVID-19 deaths are collected and reported
Texas health department officials have altered the way they report COVID-19 deaths in an effort to speed up lag time in the crucial data.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says it began identifying coronavirus fatalities through the cause of death listed on death certificates on Monday.
“This method allows fatalities to be counted faster with more comprehensive demographic data,” DSHS said in a release. “Using death certificates also ensures consistent reporting across the state and enables DSHS to display fatalities by date of death, providing the public with more information about when deaths occurred.”
A coronavirus-related death is confirmed when the medical certifier — usually a doctor with direct knowledge of the patient, according to DSHS — determines COVID-19 directly caused the death.
This method does not include deaths of people who had COVID-19 but died of an unrelated cause, DSHS said. Death certificates are required by law to be filed within 10 days.
State officials previously counted COVID-19 deaths after they were reported “publicly by local and regional health departments after they received a notification and verified the death.”
Tarrant County reports no COVID-19 deaths for first time in a month, cases down to 240
Tarrant County reported 240 new coronavirus cases and no deaths on Monday.
It’s the first day the county hasn’t reported at least one COVID-19 death since June 23, according to county data tracking by date of death.
The county reported 50 coronavirus-related deaths in the previous six days combined.
Tarrant County has confirmed 25,739 COVID-19 cases, including 348 deaths and at least 13,498 recoveries.
Of the total cases in the county, there have been 11,742 in Fort Worth, 4,965 in Arlington, 1,961 unknown city, 624 in Euless, 577 in Mansfield, 531 in Haltom City, 506 in North Richland Hills, 430 in both Grand Prairie and Grapevine, 409 in Bedford, 393 in Hurst, and 369 in Keller, and 366 in rural Tarrant County.
Of the total cases in the county, 39% have been between 25 and 44, 27% have been between 45 and 64, 17% between 15 and 24, 11% 65 or older, and 5% have been 14 and under.
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 2 deaths Monday, fewest new coronavirus cases since Wednesday
Dallas County reported 426 new coronavirus cases and two deaths on Monday.
It’s the fewest new COVID-19 cases reported in the county since 413 were reported on Wednesday. Fewer cases, however, may have been reported on Monday because many labs do not report data on the weekends.
The latest deaths include a Balch Springs man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions and a Dallas man in his 60s who did not have underlying health conditions.
Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of State Health Services have altered procedures for reporting data, which has prevented detailed hospital bed census information from being reported the next few days, according to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
“Although there is some concern that some of the testing may not be getting through on the reports due to a potential glitch in the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system,” Jenkins said in a news release, “I’m increasingly optimistic that your use of masks and sacrificial delay of unnecessary trips outside the home for things other than necessities are having an impact on flattening the recent explosions in cases since the Governor’s Open Texas plan was implemented.”
Dallas County has confirmed a total of 47,239 COVID-19 cases, including 607 deaths.
Abbott waives grade promotion requirements tied to STAAR tests as COVID disrupts school
With the typical school year upended by the novel coronavirus’ outbreak, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that grade promotion requirements tied to STAAR tests will be waived for the upcoming school year.
For the 2020-21 academic year, 5th and 8th grade students’ scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, more commonly known as STAAR, tests will not be taken into account when determining whether they will move to the next grade level.
Typically, students in those grade are required to pass the STAAR math and reading tests in order to be promoted to middle or high school. Instead of having students who fail the test retake it in the spring or summer, 5th and 8th grade students will only be required to take the reading and math assessments in May, at the same time as the other grade level tests.
It will be up to individual districts’ discretion whether a student should advance to the next grade, and among the factors they should consider are a student’s STAAR tests results as part of their overall mastery of a subject, according to guidance from the Texas Education Agency. Districts will still be responsible for providing accelerated instruction to support students that fail to pass their STAAR exam.
While Abbott waived grade promotion requirements, he stopped short of canceling STAAR tests like some state lawmakers had called for. According to a news release Monday, the traditional “A-F” grading system for schools and districts will still be in place — “albeit with certain adjustments due to COVID-19.”
“As always, our goal is to provide a high quality education for every Texas student,” Abbott said in a statement. “This will be a uniquely challenging school year, therefore, this year is about providing students every opportunity to overcome the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Concerned about getting evicted in Fort Worth? Here’s how you can get help
The federal moratorium on evictions under the CARES Act expired on Saturday. With millions of Texans unemployed, housing advocates fear a massive increase in eviction filings, particularly among people who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Because of the likely increase in evictions we wanted to provide this guide for anyone dealing with an eviction or fearing an eviction. You’ll find tips for rental assistance payments, free legal representation and understanding of the eviction process.
As COVID spreads, Abbott extends early voting by six days for Nov. general election
Citing the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Monday extending early voting for the November general election by six days.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 general election was set to start Oct. 19. The proclamation now pushes the start date up to Oct. 13, leaving close to two-and-a-half weeks before the early voting period ends on Oct. 30.
In addition, the period by which mail-in ballots may be delivered to the early voting clerk’s office was expanded to allow delivery before Election Day, rather than simply on it.
“As we respond to COVID-19, the State of Texas is focused on strategies that preserve Texans’ ability to vote in a way that also mitigates the spread of the virus,” Abbott said in a statement. “By extending the early voting period and expanding the period in which mail-in ballots can be hand-delivered, Texans will have greater flexibility to cast their ballots, while at the same time protecting themselves and others from COVID-19.”
Blind voters, disability rights groups sue Texas over inaccessible mail-in ballot system
Ahead of the November election, blind voters and advocacy groups that represent people with disabilities are suing Texas over its mail-in ballot system that they argue limits their ability to participate independently.
In a federal lawsuit filed Friday in Austin, three voters, the National Federation of the Blind of Texas, and the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities argue that Texas’ mail-in ballot system discriminates against voters with disabilities and violates provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — both which prohibit discrimination based on disability.
In Texas, voters must fill out a paper mail-in ballot, which plaintiffs argue is inaccessible to voters with disabilities and requires assistance that may not be feasible to coordinate safely amid the pandemic.
The lawsuit seeks for Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs to overhaul the state’s mail-in ballot request system by establishing a remote and accessible one across counties for future elections. A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office declined to comment Monday.
“Sadly, Texas is choosing to disenfranchise blind voters and violating the law,” Norma Crosby, the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas, said in a statement Friday. “Blind Texans will not tolerate being treated as second-class citizens.”
In order to qualify to vote by mail under Texas law, voters must submit an application and be 65 or older, disabled, out of the county on Election Day and during in-person early voting, or confined in jail.
Texas attorney general warns of scams involving the purchase of COVID-19 masks
As demand increases for personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic, scammers are taking the opportunity to make a profit.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alongside the Department of Justice warned Monday of fraudulent schemes involving masks and other COVID-19-related equipment.
Scammers may advertise equipment they don’t have, according to an Office of Texas Attorney General press release. The products may be counterfeit, mislabeled and sometimes don’t exist.
Texans who believe they’ve encountered scams or price gouging should contact the Office of the Attorney General at (800) 621-0508 or file a complaint online.
‘A veil has been lifted.’ A COVID-19 survivor tells his family’s tale of recovery
June 24: Cold chills. Muscle aches. Slight headache. Headache is not in the front, but the backside of the head. Appetite normal.
June 25: Temperature is 99.8 Groggy. Muscle soreness. Took Advil for headache. Rode my bike outside, mowed the lawn.
“Now that was a bad day,” said Derrick Merchant in reacting to the journal entries he began to chronicle what he thought just might be a his own case of coronavirus.
Merchant, a 41-year-old insurance agent from Fort Worth, is one of the growing number of people who, along with the rest of the family, contracted COVID-19, and survived the virus. An admitted germaphobe, he is also one of a growing number of people who took the preventative measures seriously, and now believes that Texas, and the rest of America, needs to reopen.
This is Derrick Merchant’s story.
“I don’t think this is some hoax or it’s all political. I don’t think this is a fraud,” Merchant said. “I had it. My family had it. I know it’s serious. I just don’t think we are seeing enough of the cases that people are recovering from this and are OK. You don’t see that enough in the media.”
As practice nears, TCU football player tests positive for COVID-19
Amid the steady concern of playing sports during a global pandemic, TCU is scheduled to start its 2020 fall football camp later this week without multiple players as acknowledging how different 2020 will be in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
A source confirmed that one player has tested positive for COVID-19. Both he and his three roommates, who are teammates on the team, will quarantine. They will not be with the team when fall practice starts later this week.
Football players who live off-campus may have roommates. Players who live on-campus are staying at one residence hall and have been assigned individual rooms with a shared restroom.
TCU’s policy is not to comment on positive COVID-19 cases.
“We fully expect to have student-athletes and coaches go through stretches where they might not be available,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. “Unfortunately it is going to be our reality for now.”
According to TCU, there are nine current students on campus who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are an additional 12 cases with indirect on-campus impact.
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys set to report for testing on Tuesday, begin unusual camp
As quarterback Dak Prescott and the rest of the veteran Dallas Cowboys are set to report to The Star in Frisco Tuesday in advance of training camp, commissioner Roger Goodell posted a letter to fans saying that the league’s goal is to have a complete season while “I had it. My family had it.
“Adaptability and flexibility will be needed for the foreseeable future,” Goodell said. “After all, even the best game plan changes as new challenges arise. While this year will forever be defined by a heartbreaking global pandemic and a transformative social justice movement, I am reminded of the tenacious, resilient spirit of our country, the NFL community, and you, the greatest fans in the world.”
Tuesday will be Prescott’s first appearance at the team facility since at least March when the Cowboys placed the franchise tag on him and he then boycotted the team’s offseason program in hopes of getting a contract extension. That was before the league-wide COVID-19 shutdown began.
WR Stephen Guidry becomes second Dallas Cowboys player take voluntary COVID-19 opt out
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Stephen Guidry, an undrafted rookie from Mississippi State, is taking the voluntary COVID-19 opt out from the 2020 season, per sources.
Guidry is the second Cowboys player to take the opt out, joining cornerback Maurice Canady.
Players who opt out receive a $150,000 stipend that is treated as an advance on future salary. Guidry and Canady will be back on the Cowboys roster next season.
TAPPS updates fall athletic schedule, which includes longer football regular season
The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools announced updated athletic schedules for the fall less than two weeks from its original plan to shorten the season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Most notable was pushing back football state championship games a week in December to allow for an eight-game regular season instead of six games.
The state championships are scheduled for Dec. 10-12 in Waco.
Fort Worth area teams include Nolan Catholic, Fort Worth All Saints, Fort Worth Christian, Grapevine Faith, Fort Worth Southwest Christian, Colleyville Covenant, Arlington Grace Prep, Arlington Pantego, Trinity Christian-Willow Park, Lake Country Christian, Fort Worth Temple Christian, Watauga Harvest and Weatherford Christian.
In TAPPS’ original release on July 16, fall sports could begin high school workouts on Sept. 8. In the updated version, schools may begin a day earlier on Sept. 7. Football teams can practice in full pads starting Sept. 11.
The volleyball start date was moved up 11 days to Sept. 10 while the state finals were pushed back to Nov. 18-21.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 11:13 AM.