Coronavirus live updates July 29: 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.
School leaders, not health officials, will decide when to start classes, Texas AG says
How and when schools start classes is up to school officials, not public health authorities, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
Paxton issued non-binding guidance that states public health authorities may not close schools “for the sole purpose of preventing future COVID-19 infections.”
This comes one week after Tarrant County’s top health officials issued an order requiring the first six weeks of school to be online only because of the growth in coronavirus cases. Health authorities said their goal was to keep students at home until several weeks after the Labor Day holiday to avoid a potential spike in cases that could spread through schools.
“Education of our children is an essential Texas value and there is no current statewide order prohibiting any school from opening,” Paxton said in a statement. “While local health authorities may possess some authority to close schools in limited circumstances, they may not issue blanket orders closing all schools on a purely preventative basis.
“That decision rightfully remains with school system leaders.”
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the three Tarrant County health authorities who signed last week’s order — Catherine Colquitt, Cynthia Simmons and Steve Martin — have been updated that their order has been suspended because it “exceeded the scope of their statutory authority.”
“The decision is now back in the laps of public school boards and private schools,” Whitley said during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”
He urged school officials to work with health authorities in deciding what to do about the upcoming school year.
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 ISD says it has not decided whether to open with online or in-person classes
Fort Worth school officials have not yet decided if they will stick with online-only classes for the first six weeks or allow in-person classes in mid-August, Superintendent Kent P. Scribner said at a virtual town hall Tuesday.
School officials must decide what to do after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said public health authorities may not close schools “for the sole purpose of preventing future COVID-19 infections.” Tarrant County’s health officials had ordered the first six weeks of school to be online only because of rising coronavirus cases in the county.
Tarrant County has had a total of 26,315 COVID-19 cases, including 349 deaths and at least 13,560 recoveries.
Fort Worth ISD Board of Education member Jacinto Ramos Jr. said the board will continue to talk about reopening, especially when there’s a risk for spread when people are in motion.
“I, as one trustee, never imagined making decisions that would probably mean life or death for students, for teachers and the community at large,” he said.
Ramos said the board has asked for more help and flexibility from the state but instead has gotten more politics.
After Paxton’s decision, the Texas Education Agency said that remote instruction will no longer be funded if a local health authority issues a blanket order for schools to close, as it “does not constitute a legally issued closure order.”
During the Fort Worth town hall, most questions and concerns were about how virtual learning was going to differ from the spring and how safe schools were going to be for students, faculty and staff.
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.
Tarrant County reports rise in new COVID cases, Arlington death; hospitalizations down
Tarrant County reported 576 new coronavirus cases and one death on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s new cases are the most since 587 were reported on July 20, according to the county’s report date data, which represents the day a case was confirmed.
The latest death is an Arlington man in his 70s with underlying health conditions. It’s the 57th COVID-19 death in Arlington. Fort Worth residents account for 187 pandemic deaths.
Tarrant County has confirmed a total of 26,315 COVID-19 cases, including 349 deaths and at least 13,560 recoveries.
After hitting a pandemic-high 731 hospitalizations for confirmed COVID cases, including 157 in ICU, on Thursday, hospitalizations have declined and were at 620 on Monday, according to county data.
Tarrant County hospital capacity
Hospital capacity by available beds and ventilators for Tarrant County. Data provided by Tarrant County Public Health.
Dallas County reports 15 more COVID-19 deaths, nearly 100 in past week, including inmate
Dallas County reported 789 new coronavirus cases and 15 more deaths on Tuesday.
The latest pandemic deaths include four in Dallas, three in Irving, two in Grand Prairie, and one each in DeSoto, Garland, Lancaster, Mesquite, Richardson and Seagoville.
The ages include three men in their 50s, two men and a woman in their 60s, a man and a woman in their 70s, two women and a man in their 80s, and two men and two women in their 90s. Two of the 15 did not have underlying health conditions — Dallas man in his 50s who was found dead at his home and a Seagoville man who had been an inmate at a correctional facility. Three of the deceased in their 90s were residents of long-term care facilities in Dallas and DeSoto.
The county has confirmed 45 COVID-19 deaths in the past five days and 98 deaths in the past week.
Dallas County has confirmed a total of 48,028 COVID-19 cases, including 622 deaths. About a third of the total pandemic-related deaths in the county have been associated with long-term care facilities, according to health officials.
The county reported that 425 patients went to an emergency room with COVID-19 symptoms in a 24-hour period ending Monday. That represents about 22% of all ER visits in the county. “These numbers are still very elevated but not increasing,” Dallas County health officials reported in a news release.
In west Fort Worth, a steakhouse is closed and three barbecue restaurants have left
The Buffalo West steakhouse has closed, the latest in a spate of closings in west Fort Worth.
The mid-market steakhouse opened eight years ago in a landmark location built for the long-ago Steak & Ale Restaurant chain.
Buffalo West won new customers with family dinners during the coronavirus lockdown and seemed to be making a comeback. But it was known for its old-fashioned salad bar and country-club-style weekend brunch buffet, both knocked out by coronavirus health orders limiting self-service.
It’s the latest of several restaurants to close or leave the Western Hills neighborhood.
Only 7 spectators to be allowed in death penalty murder trial for Fort Worth shooting
A man accused in a deadly Fort Worth home invasion robbery is expected to defend himself in a capital murder trial scheduled to begin with testimony on Thursday.
Police say James Earnest Floyd, 53, of Terrell, got inside the home of John and Diane Porter on March 28, 2017, and shot them both.
John Porter, 69, died more than a week later on April 6, after Floyd beat him with a metal table stand and then shot him in the head, according to a search warrant affidavit written by Fort Worth Detective J. Cedillo.
Due to the coronvirus pandemic and to allow for social distancing, officials will allow only seven spectators inside the courtroom during the trial. This will be the first capital murder trial held in Tarrant County since the pandemic suspended in-person trials in March.
Floyd could face the death penalty if convicted.
Texas extends deadline to apply for benefits for those missing free, reduced-price meals
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that the deadline for low-income families to apply for extra benefits to cover the cost of free or reduced-price meals that their children would normally receive at school has been extended for an additional month.
Families will now have until Aug. 21 to apply for a one-time $285 benefit per child under the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, more commonly known as P-EBT. This is the second extension by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission since the original deadline of June 30.
Texas was approved in May to operate the program, which allows families to receive benefits equal to the value of free or reduced-price meals that their children would typically receive in school. In March, extended spring breaks turned into school closures as the novel coronavirus spread.
The P-EBT benefits can be used in the same way as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to buy groceries and food. Eligible families should have received a notification from their school district in May. After completing an online application, families will receive their benefits on a P-EBT card through the mail.
In the 2019-2020 school year, approximately 3.6 million children were eligible for free and reduced-priced lunch in Texas, or approximately 67% of kids in participating schools, according to a USDA news release.
Families can learn more about the program and how to apply at hhs.texas.gov/pebt or by calling the P-EBT Call Center weekdays between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What is a parklet? Find out when Mansfield adds them to boost foot traffic downtown
Visitors to Historic Downtown Mansfield will soon be able to sit and relax at a new parklet soon, but will find fewer parking spots in front of businesses.
Shoppers who buy a treat from AndiMac Candy Shack or a coffee or boba tea from Flying Squirrel, both just down the street from the parklet on either side, will theoretically be able to sit down and enjoy their candy or drink.
The Cty Council voted unanimously Monday evening to approve the project.
The parklets will be structures that extend the sidewalk out into parallel parking spaces in front of businesses. The first will go in front of the office of optometrist Robert A. Smith. Each parklet will take up a couple of spaces.
The parklets will include planters with greenery, a bench and will give business owners the option to place tables and chairs on the structures.
The city expects the structures to increase foot traffic in downtown. The project was created in response to economic decline in the area during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DE DeMarcus Lawrence among Dallas Cowboys to show up for COVID-19 testing to open camp
Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was among the veteran players, including quarterback Dak Prescott, who reported to the Star in Frisco on Tuesday for the first of three COVID-19 tests to open training camp.
Lawrence has said he was considering opting out because his wife is pregnant. Players have until Aug. 4 to take the voluntary opt out, and two Cowboys — cornerback Maurice Canady and receiver Stephen Guidry — already have done that.
Otherwise, it was a quiet but unusual official start to training camp for the Cowboys.
Per a source, veterans began arriving starting at 6:30 a.m. They took their first round of COVID-19 tests in the testing station outside of the building and left. It was completed before 9 a.m.
The players will repeat that process twice more and, if all three tests are negative, they will be able to step foot in the building and be issued equipment on the first day of physicals, which would be Saturday.
Will there be college football amid COVID? Former Power 5 AD paints bleak picture
The former athletic director of three Power 5 conference schools said football provides at least 71% of an athletic department’s annual budget.
“You get about 18% from men’s basketball,” said Eric Hyman, who is now retired but in his career served as the AD at Miami of Ohio, TCU, South Carolina and, most recently, Texas A&M from 2012-16.
And there is your reason why the SEC, Big 12 and other conferences will wait until the last possible fraction of a second to cancel or delay the 2020 college football season.
“There is vulnerability both ways on this. It’s why everyone is going to do everything they can to make it work,” Hyman said. “Will this come to fruition and they will have a season? I do think there is a greater chance you won’t have a football season than you do. That doesn’t mean you won’t.
“I ask a lot of people, ‘Do you want your son to play college football?’ No one says yes. I ask, ‘Would you go to the game?’ Right now, there is a lot of reservation. That’s just me talking to people. The ADs want to play, and I do not blame them. You are talking about a lot of money.”
We have arrived at the point on the calendar when conference commissioners, athletic directors and university presidents must decide if they want to press on through the coronavirus concerns in an effort to have a full college football season.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 10:04 AM.