Cumulative COVID‐19 Cases and Hospitalizations in Dallas County: March 10, 2020 – April 2, 2020 by Date of Specimen Collection

At least one person has commented here on the DallasVoice.com website asking why Dallas County officials decided to extend the shelter in place order through May 20, and I have seen comments on social media about the extension, as well. So I thought I would share with you all this information from Dallas County Health and Human Services:

  • As of 10 a.m. today (Friday, April 3), DCHHS is reporting 90 new positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus disease — aka COVID-19 — bringing the county’s total case count to 921. That includes 17 deaths.
  • The numbers of ICU hospitalizations from COVID-19 during the past week HAVE EXCEEDED THE PEAK WEEK OF ICU HOSPITALIZATIONS FROM INFLUENZA THIS PAST 2019-2020 SEASON in Dallas County. I put that info in all caps to emphasize, once again, that COVID-19 is not “just the flu.” Notice that does not says “hospitalizations;” it says ICU hospitalizations. In other words, COVID-19 is making some people VERY ill, and from everything the experts of saying, this has not been our “peak week” for COVID-19.
  • Of those COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalizations 71 percent have either been over 60 years old or have had at least one known high-risk chronic health condition. Of all patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 28 percent have also had diabetes.
  • Thirty-four of Dallas County’s COVID-19 cases — including three of the 17 deaths — are associated with one of five long-term care facilities.

One more factor I want to talk about here is “transmission risk factors” — or how did these folks contract the coronavirus. Of the 921 known cases in Dallas County, 47 (6.7 percent) contracted the virus through exposure during international travel; 79 (9.4 percent) contracted the virus during domestic out-of-state travel; 5 (0.8 percent) contracted the virus through cruise ship travel; 34 (4.4 percent) contracted the virus in a long-term care facility, and 22 (1.7 percent) contracted the virus in jail.

The rest — that’s 480 out of 921, or 76 percent — contracted COVID-19 through close contact or presumed community transmission.
And THAT, my friends, is why Dallas County has extended its shelter in place order.

Go here to see the complete report for Friday morning.