Dallas County adds 5,195 previously unreported COVID-19 cases due to Texas backlog
Dallas County reported 5,361 additional cases of coronavirus on Sunday, most of which previously went unreported due to a coding error from the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to the Dallas County Health Department.
Out of the new cases, 5,195 came from a backlog in cases at DSHS labs. The backlog was due to coding errors that the DSHS is now starting to fix through a system upgrade. Most of the positive COVID-19 cases reported from the lab are from tests administered in July, the Dallas health department said.
The Dallas health department broke down the backlog of cases by months in which the positive tests were administered. Thirteen of the tests were from March, 149 were from April, 80 were from May, 52 were from June, 4,298 were from July and 603 were from August.
The county also reported one COVID-19 related death on Sunday of a man in his 50s who lived in Dallas. He had been critically ill in a hospital and had underlying health conditions. With the additional cases, the county now has 63,428 confirmed coronavirus cases and 825 deaths.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the county expects to receive even more batches of previously missed cases from the DSHS system.
Other counties received similarly large numbers of missed COVID-19 cases after DSHS announced Thursday that 124,693 tests statewide went previously unreported due to the coding error. On Saturday, Tarrant County Public Health reported more than 1,400 cases.
The backlog in cases emphasizes the need for people to stay home, wear masks and social distance, especially while awaiting COVID-19 test results, Jenkins said in a statement.
The Dallas County health department did not conduct contact tracing on any of the unreported cases because they were not made aware of them. Jenkins said this shows the importance of informing anyone you’ve been in close contact with if you test positive for COVID-19.
He also emphasized the need for everyone to properly wear masks while in public.
“If you choose not to wear a mask in a public setting or to wear your mask with your nose exposed, you are essentially saying thank you for protecting me, but my convenience and comfort are more important than me protecting you,” he said in a statement.
This story was originally published August 16, 2020 at 3:30 PM.
