COVID-19 cases back on the rise in Tarrant County as omicron spikes, holiday data rolls in
COVID-19 is on the rise yet again in Tarrant County.
While case levels are nowhere near where they were this time a year ago during the winter spike, the most recent data from the county — which says it includes case counts received since Friday, Dec. 24 — shows a sharp uptick.
The week of Christmas, test results in Tarrant County showed 5,603 new COVID-19 cases — 4,390 confirmed and 1,213 probable, according to the most recent data posted Thursday morning, though it wasn’t immediately clear if the data was complete. This week so far, the county has recorded 1,310 confirmed COVID-19 cases and an additional 302 probable cases. The test positivity rate as of Sunday was 18.64%.
Throughout the pandemic, Tarrant County has recorded 387,921 total COVID-19 cases.
Tarrant County Public Health on Thursday reported 13 more COVID-19 deaths. The deceased include a woman from Fort Worth over 90 years old, a man from Grand Prairie over 90, a man from Fort worth in his 80s, a woman from River Oaks in her 80s, a woman from Everman in her 80s, a woman from Arlington in her 80s, a woman from River Oaks in her 70s, a man from Fort Worth in his 60s, a man from Arlington in his 60s, a woman from Grand Prairie in her 50s, a man from Fort Worth in his 50s, a woman from Arlington in her 30s and a woman from North Richland Hills in her 30s. All had underlying health conditions.
This week, the county health department has made efforts to increase testing availability as residents’ demand soared following the holiday weekend. Health department officials announced Tuesday they would open the county’s three vendor-operated testing locations seven days a week following the New Year holiday.
A spokesperson for the county said in an email Thursday afternoon that the following sites will be open for COVID-19 testing over New Year’s weekend:
- Resource Connection, Parking Lot D at 1500 Circle Drive in Fort Worth will be open Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Northeast Annex at 837 Brown Trail in Bedford will be open Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Ben Thanh Market at 1818 East Pioneer Parkway Suite 100 in Arlington will be open Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- TEXRail North Side Station at 2829 Decatur Ave. in Fort Worth will be open Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Burleson Fire Station #3 at 245 Lakewood Drive in Burleson will be open Friday 9-10 a.m.
- Tarrant County College Northeast Campus at 828 West Harwood Road in Hurst will be open Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- University of Texas at Arlington at 701 South Nedderman Drive in Arlington will be open Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Neither a spokesperson for the health department nor Public Health Director Vinny Taneja could be immediately reached for comment Thursday morning.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 1:20 PM.
