Dallas County to hit 2.5K daily COVID-19 cases by next week, UT Southwestern predicts
Dallas County to hit 2.5K daily COVID-19 cases by next week, UT Southwestern predicts
After reporting a record-high number of new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Dallas County is on track to hit 2,500 new cases a day by next week, according to the latest forecast from UT Southwestern.
DALLAS - After reporting a record-high number of new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Dallas County is on track to hit 2,500 new cases a day by next week, according to the latest forecast from UT Southwestern.
The occupancy numbers have nearly tripled since late September. They went from 252 COVID patients on Sept. 30 to 691 on Tuesday. The number of available ICU beds is going down from 81 on Sept. 30 to 49 on Tuesday.
Dallas County health officials are concerned recent increases in COVID case numbers may translate into even more hospitalizations down the line.
“Bottom line: we know if at the top of the funnel the numbers are increasing significantly, that the number of people getting infected, transmission increases, it’s going to increase all these numbers down through,” warned,” Dallas County Health Director Dr. Philip Huang.
He says the number of available hospital ICU beds in the county is declining down to 49 beds left.
The outlook only appears to be getting worse.
The latest forecast from UT Southwestern shows COVID-19 related hospitalizations in Dallas County have nearly more than doubled since late September: a 163% increase. And the growth is accelerating.
(Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county are projected to grow up to over 1,000 by next week.
As the numbers get worse, Dallas county commissioners are trying to better understand the data to see if asking the governor for more mandates to slow the spread is justified.
On Friday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott urging for business reopenings to scale back.
“If we’re going to be sending recommendations like that off, we probably should have the steps and be transparent with him. This is how we got to that conclusion. That this business needs to close down,” said Dallas County Commissioner J.J. Koch.
“We know what we need to do we just need to do it,” Dr. Huang said. “Now if everyone’s tired of it and not doing it, what can we do to get people to do it?”
According to data from UT Southwestern, the percentage of doctor’s visits for COVID-19 like symptoms is at its highest since the peak we saw in July. Medical experts there say these visits will likely increase ahead of hospitalizations.