One of the newly reported deaths was a woman in her 90s, three were county residents in their 80s, one of the dead was in his 70s, one was in his 60s, three were in their 50s and one was in his 30s. Five of the victims lived in long-term care facilities in Dallas, according to the county.
Dallas County has now reported 1,877 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 89 on Tuesday. Almost 70% of cases requiring hospitalization in the county have been people who were older than 60, had an underlying health condition that made them more vulnerable to the virus, or both. Forty-two county residents have died from the virus.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins mourned the losses of the virus' latest victims and urged everyone in the county to continue sheltering in place.
"My heart goes out to their families and all who are suffering during this pandemic," Jenkins said. "Evidence continues to mount that the aggressive move to shelter in place on March 22 is flattening the curve in Dallas County and North Texas. We are in the middle of this fight and we must not waver from the exercise of sound personal decision-making and smart physical distancing.""We are in the middle of this fight and we must not waver from the exercise of sound personal decision-making and smart physical distancing." – Clay Jenkins
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that he will announce plans for how to reopen Texas' economy this week. Texas continues to lag behind much of the country in per capita testing for the coronavirus, which public health officials agree is a key factor in potential lifting physical distancing restrictions.
The state has about 29 million residents. Only 146,000 of those 29 million have been tested, a rate of about one-half of 1%. States at the top of the U.S. chart in testing are checking about four times as many residents.
