Tarrant officials detail path forward with 6 coronavirus cases in Dallas-Fort Worth
The same day Collin County officials confirmed three members of one family tested positive for the coronavirus, the director of the Tarrant County health department announced the county’s first presumptive positive case. Dallas County also reported two presumptive positive cases on Tuesday.
“It’s here in the DFW metro area,” Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said during a weekly county meeting Tuesday morning, hours before Tarrant County’s first case of the virus was reported. Health officials are preparing for the likelihood that — with the number of infected growing across the U.S. and in Texas — there will be more positive cases in Tarrant County.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were more than 900 confirmed cases across the U.S. of COVID-19, the respiratory sickness caused by the new coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases around the world has risen to above 118,000, with more than 4,200 deaths, the data shows. More than 64,000 people have recovered.
Other than evacuees from cruise ships who have been quarantined in San Antonio, 12 other cases have been reported in Texas — six in Harris County and six in Fort Bend County, near Houston — according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The increasing number of national cases has led the Tarrant County Public Health Department as well as the City of Fort Worth to track those who have become infected in the hopes of keeping tabs on the fast-spreading virus.
And the county, which has roughly 1,800 coronavirus testing kits on-hand, is instructing people what they should and should not do as the possibility of an outbreak looms.
Speaking to media after the weekly commissioners court meeting, Taneja said his department has been in close contact with health officials from Collin County, who have completed “tracing lists” showing where the three infected family members — a husband, wife and their 3-year-old child — have been and who might have been exposed. Those lists indicate the family members haven’t come into contact with anyone from Tarrant County, he said.
But residents have expressed their fear they could come down with the virus, flooding the Tarrant coronavirus hotline with calls, he said. Most have been denied.
In order to be tested, he said, a resident needs to meet the criteria outlined by the Centers for Disease Control — that the person has come back from any high-risk countries with symptoms like a cough or shortness of breath, or doctors have ruled out common ailments like the cold and the flu.
But people need to remember “we’re not a walk-up lab” and can’t use tests indiscriminately, Taneja said.
“That’s a lot of questions we’re getting — ‘Can I just come to the health department and get a test?’ The answer is no,” he said. “Usually we would want you to go to a medical professional, get evaluated for what illness you might have and then — if the health professional feels that it’s important to get a test — we will work with their facility to get a test and then our lab will do the sampling and do the results.”
The CDC has urged those who suspect they might have the coronavirus to call their doctor’s office, emergency room or urgent care center before showing up at a health facility.
Taneja noted the flu has been a bigger problem in Tarrant County, with thousands of cases confirmed throughout this flu season. People should approach coronavirus prevention as they do flu prevention, he said, from sneezing or coughing into an elbow, to properly washing hands, to disinfecting surfaces that regularly get touched.
The county is keeping its own employees updated on the coronavirus through email, and there have been increased efforts to sanitize the inside of county buildings on a daily basis, including doorknobs and countertops, health officials said during the commissioners meeting Tuesday.
The City of Fort Worth is also planning on increasing preventive actions like sanitizing facilities and asking any employees with potential exposure to immediately inform their direct supervisor, according to a press release. The Office of Emergency Management is reportedly monitoring the “fluid situation” on a daily basis.
The Tarrant County coronavirus hotline is 817-248-6299.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 3:55 PM.
