Name: Down to 17 ICU beds, Dallas County posts record 2,512 coronavirus cases and — yet again — 30 deaths
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Down to 17 ICU beds, Dallas County posts record 2,512 coronavirus cases and — yet again — 30 deaths

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1:19 PM on Dec 23, 2020 CST — Updated at 5:00 PM on Dec 23, 2020 CSTUpdated at 5 p.m. to add data from the state.Dallas County on Wednesday reported a record 2,512 coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. And, just like the day before, 30 new COVID-19 deaths also were announced.It’s the sixth time this year, the fourth time this month and the third time in the last four days that the county has posted a single-day death tally of 30 from the virus.Meanwhile, Texas also reported a record one-day case total — 22,590 — and nearly 300 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday.Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned in a prepared statement that as of Wednesday the county had only 17 ICU beds remaining — “the worst we’ve seen so far,” he wrote.“If we reach the predicted worst-case scenarios, we will surpass our capacity,” Jenkins said, noting projections from UT Southwestern Medical Center that the county could post as many as 2,700 cases and 1,500 hospitalizations a day by Jan. 5.“While hospitals can add beds, we don’t have the ability to easily add physicians, nurses and other clinical staff,” Jenkins wrote. “Health care heroes will be asked to take on higher numbers of patients, and staff [who have] not normally worked in COVID units or ICU may be asked to provide this level of care.”Of the fatalities reported Wednesday, the youngest victim was a Dallas man in his 20s who was found dead in a home.Fourteen other victims also were from Dallas, including a woman in her 40s, two men and two women in their 50s, a man and a woman in their 60s, four men and two women in their 70s, and a man in his 90s.Four victims were from Garland: two men and a woman in their 70s, and a woman in her 100s.Four victims were from Grand Prairie: a man in his 60s, a man and a woman in their 70s, and a man in his 80s.Two victims were from Irving and in their 70s. The remaining deaths were of a Balch Springs woman and a Mesquite woman in their 60s, and a Cedar Hill man, a Richardson man and a Sunnyvale man in their 70s.All but six victims had underlying health conditions.Related:Of the new cases reported Wednesday, 1,835 are confirmed and 677 are probable. The newly reported cases bring the county’s total confirmed cases to 160,189 and probable cases to 19,229. The county has recorded 1,544 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.The county has said it is counting only positive antigen tests (sometimes called rapid tests) as probable cases; a few antibody and “household” results were included previously.While other North Texas counties provide estimates for how many people have recovered from the virus, Dallas County officials , noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not use that metric.Health officials use hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and emergency room visits as key metrics to track the real-time impact of COVID-19 in the county. In the 24-hour period that ended Tuesday, 972 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 562 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.Noting UTSW’s grim forecast for daily case and hospitalization numbers in early January, Jenkins wrote: “Whether we reach these record highs is entirely up to the personal decisions we all make in the next few days. ... Now is a time for patriotism as we battle a determined and relentless foe that is killing North Texans in record numbers.”Across the state, 22,590 more coronavirus cases and 294 COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday.Texas has now reported 1,636,458 total cases and 25,900 fatalities.Of the new cases, 19,185 were confirmed and 3,405 were probable. The state has reported 1,451,256 confirmed cases and 185,202 probable cases.The state also added 655 older confirmed cases and 118 older probable cases that were recently reported by labs.There are 10,574 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, including 3,215 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.The seven-day average positivity rate statewide for molecular tests, based on the date of test specimen collection, was 14.43% as of Tuesday. State health officials said using data based on when people were tested provides the most accurate positivity rate.For antigen tests, the positivity rate for the same period was 9.43%.Related:Tarrant County reported 1,702 new coronavirus cases and 11 new deaths Wednesday.Three of the victims reported Wednesday were from Fort Worth, including two men in their 60s and 70s and a woman in her 90s.Three other victims were from Mansfield, including a man and woman in their 40s and a man in his 70s. Two victims were from Arlington, including a man in his 50s and a woman in her 90s. The remaining three victims include a Bedford man and a White Settlement woman in their 60s and a Keller woman in her 90s.All but three victims had underlying health conditions.The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 135,793, including 118,641 that are confirmed, 17,152 that are probable and 99,752 recoveries. The death toll stands at 1,389.According to Wednesday’s numbers on the county dashboard, 1,168 people are hospitalized with the virus — up from 1,139 on Tuesday.The state added 1,204 coronavirus cases to Collin County’s total Wednesday, bringing the tally to 43,169. Six new COVID-19 fatalities also were reported, bringing the county’s death toll to 340.No details about the latest victims were available.Collin County has recorded 39,079 confirmed cases and 4,090 probable cases. According to state data, the county has 4,134 active cases of the virus and has recorded 34,945 recoveries.The county’s coronavirus dashboard only notes total hospitalizations, which stand at 452.Denton County reported 751 coronavirus cases — of which 672 are active — and three new deaths Wednesday.The latest deaths include a man in his 50s from The Colony and a man and a woman in their 80s from Lewisville.The newly reported cases bring the county’s total to 36,303, including 12,100 that are active and 24,016 that are recoveries. The death toll stands at 187.The newly reported cases also raise the county’s total molecular cases to 29,860, while antigen cases stand at 6,443.There are 158 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, according to the county’s data.The Texas Department of State Health Services has taken over reporting for these other North Texas counties. In some counties, new data may not be reported every day.The latest numbers are:Get the latest coronavirus updates delivered to your inbox by signing up for our exclusive newsletter.By signing up you agree to our

1:19 PM on Dec 23, 2020 CST — Updated at 5:00 PM on Dec 23, 2020 CSTUpdated at 5 p.m. to add data from the state.Dallas County on Wednesday reported a record 2,512 coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. And, just like the day before, 30 new COVID-19 deaths also were announced.It’s the sixth time this year, the fourth time this month and the third time in the last four days that the county has posted a single-day death tally of 30 from the virus.Meanwhile, Texas also reported a record one-day case total — 22,590 — and nearly 300 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday.Dallas County Judge Clay...

Down to 17 ICU beds, Dallas County posts record 2,512 coronavirus cases and — yet again — 30 deaths

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