City of Dallas COVID-19 Update: April 23

Dear Friend —

Tonight, we had another successful “Thank You Thursday,” a public celebration of our front-line workers. Check out this video clip from tonight and please plan to participate again next Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Below are the latest updates from the City of Dallas on our COVID-19 response and some important information you are encouraged to share, including information about the new Walgreens COVID-19 test site in southern Dallas that opens tomorrow. 

Confirmed Positive Cases of COVID-19 in North Texas

• 2,763 in Dallas County (80 are new) & 72 deaths (recovery numbers unknown)
• 1,559 in Tarrant County (129 are new) & 45 deaths (265 recovered)
• 661  in Denton County (17 are new) & 19 deaths (319 recovered)
• 609 in Collin County (25 are new) & 14 deaths (429 recovered)
• 135 in Ellis County & 4 deaths (69 recovered)
• 61 in Rockwall County (recovery numbers unknown)
• 58 in Kaufman County (34 recovered)

Hospital Reports

Here are the bed and ventilator capacity statistics as reported by 25 hospitals in the City of Dallas: 

• Total beds: 5,711
• Beds occupied: 3,226 (56%)
• Total ICU beds: 827
• ICU beds occupied: 505 (61%)
• Total ventilators: 942
• Ventilators in use: 294 (31%)

COVID-19 Lab Reports 

Below are the numbers for Thursday, April 23, 2020:

Testing numbers from labs to date 

*Numbers since March 13, 2020, the date the order requiring public and private labs in Dallas to report their COVID-19 tests went into effect

Community-Based Testing Sites

The numbers reported from the two community-based testing sites for April 22 are as follows:

Demographic information on those who visited the test sites can be found here.

Most of the data above can be found in this COVID-19 DFW Regional Dashboard here. In addition to the statistics already on the dashboard, data points on emergency regulations, hospital capacity, lab tests, etc. have been incorporated into the dashboard for you to view at your convenience. Each tab in the Dashboard allows you to filter by date. This is a graphic in English and Spanish for you to promote the use of the dashboard. 

City Operations and Mayor’s Updates

• Earlier today, Mayor Eric Johnson officially signed an extension of the Proclamation Declaring a State of Local Disaster for the City of Dallas.
• The Dallas City Council took action yesterday to pass a package of relief measures for residents and businesses that have been affected by the spread of COVID-19. We passed:
  • A small business continuity program. Through this program, and in combination with funding from federal partners and private partners such as Goldman Sachs, the city will distribute $5 million in grants and loans to small businesses that had a 25% drop in revenue.
  • A mortgage and rental assistance program to help those affected by COVID-19. Through a 13.7 million dollar program, the council expects to help thousands of Dallas residents stay in their homes.
  • An ordinance to slow down the eviction process and encourage landlords and tenants to work together as they both face hardships because of COVID-19. The landlord-tenant ordinance provides a 21-day notice period for COVID-19-related hardships, allows for a 60-day notice if a substantial hardship can be proven, ties the ordinance to our rental assistance program, and creates a process for landlords and tenants to work together.

• The City of Dallas, Dallas County, and Parkland Health and Hospital System (hereafter “PHHS”) will  partner to create a mobile testing initiative to reach certain populations in the community. Based on community needs and CDC Guidelines for testing PHHS will develop a testing schedule which will begin with testing at area nursing homes, senior living communities, homeless shelters etc.  The testing schedule will be created weekly and will be submitted to the City of Dallas
• City of Dallas Community Based Testing Sites will allocate up to 40% of current approved tests to mobile testing (i.e. a quantity of 200 tests per site per day based on current approved capacity). Each mobile testing unit (for a maximum of 2) will maintain a quantity of 200 test kits on-hand daily and will be replenished to maintain that level. An increase/decrease in testing supplies will be data driven.
• Walgreens will open a drive-through testing site in southern Dallas at 2060 South Buckner Boulevard on Friday 4/24. Pre-registration will be required to get tested at this location.For more details, please see this press release from today.
• Just a reminder that the COVID-19 Community-Based Testing Sites have expanded their testing criteria to allow testing for more people. Criteria now includes no symptoms required for first responders, DART drivers, healthcare workers, grocery store and essential retail store workers beginning April 20.
• Graphics are available with the new testing criteria for you to share: English and Spanish.
• Dallas Park and Recreation has created alphabetical guidelines to ease congestion on the Katy Trail. Starting yesterday access to the Katy Trail Thursday through Sunday, will depend on your last name. Visitors with last names starting with A-L are asked to use the Katy Trail only on Thursday and Saturday. Last names starting with M-Z are asked to use the trail Friday and Sunday.
• These are the latest stay-at-home frequently asked questions (FAQ) documents produced by the City in English and Spanish.

Updates from Dallas County

• The Dallas County Commissioners voted to extend the stay at home order through May 15.
• As of 11:00 am April 23, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) is reporting 80 additional positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total case count in Dallas County to 2,763, including 72 deaths.
• Of the 72 total deaths reported to date, about a third have been associated with long-term care facilities.
• Of cases requiring hospitalization, most have been either over 60 years of age or have had at least one known high-risk chronic health condition.
• Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19. 
• Please see the latest summary report for more information. The report contains race/ethnicity information on the confirmed tests and deaths and important information comparing influenza ICU admissions and hospitalizations and COVID-19 ICU admissions and hospitalizations. 
• Dallas County only updates this information on Tuesdays and Fridays. 

Updates from Collin County

• There are 25 new cases (net) of COVID-19 in Collin County today, as of 3:30 p.m.
• There are 166 current cases of COVID-19 in Collin County (total cases minus recovered and deceased).
• There have been 609 total confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Collin County.
• 429 people have successfully recovered; 16 are hospitalized; 150 remain in home isolation.
• There have been 14 confirmed deaths associated with COVID-19 in Collin County.
• There have been 4,765 negative COVID-19 tests in Collin County.
• There are 906 Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs) in Collin County.

Updates from Denton County

• Denton County Public Health (DCPH) is announcing 17 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Denton County. This increases the cumulative, countywide total to 661 confirmed COVID-19 cases. DCPH is also announcing 56 newly recovered COVID-19 cases within the county.
• The laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 Denton State Supported Living Center (DSSLC) resident total remains 54. The cumulative, countywide long-term care facility (LTCF) resident total has increased by one to 18. Staff who test positive for COVID-19 from DSSLC and over 100 LTCFs in Denton County are included within the totals for the town, city, unincorporated area, and/or county in which the staff person resides.
• Visit www.dentoncounty.gov/COVIDstats for local COVID-19 data including interactive heat maps, charts, and city and zip code data. Visit www.dentoncounty.gov/COVID19 for COVID-19 health and safety information.

Updates from the State

• During a recent press conference, Governor Greg Abbott announced that 1,579,000 unemployment claims have been filed, with more than 1.4 billion dollars paid out for those claims. That means 80% of the eligible claims have been paid and the remaining 20% will be processed quickly due to the increased participation of legislative staffers.
• Governor Abbott announced that Texas received approval from the Department of Agriculture to allow SNAP recipients to use their benefits to buy groceries online and encouraged them to visit www.yourtexasbenefits.com to find participating retailers in their region.
• Governor Abbott announced that on Monday, April 27^th he will publicize his plan to reopen the economy.

Dallas Resident Resource Guides

There are a number of resources available to residents and businesses impacted by the emergency regulations that have been put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. The City of Dallas has created a Resident Resource Guide with information on:

• Rental assistance;
• Filing for unemployment;
• Connecting displaced workers to jobs;
• Food assistance;
• Help paying utilities (note: most utility disconnections have been halted during this time);
• Mental health resources;
• Business loan information; and
• Other key resources.

The guide has been updated and is available in both English and Spanish: 

• COVID-19 Resident Resource Guide_April 17
• COVID-19 Guia de Recursos para Residentes_17 de Abril

Dallas Regional Chamber Resources

The Dallas Regional Chamber has set up a site for additional resources for residents and businesses, including information on various state and federal programs. Check out their resource guide here and their site to connect displaced workers to employment opportunities during the pandemic here.

United Way Resource Guides

United Way of Metropolitan Dallas has put together a list of resources available to Dallas area residents in English and Spanish. Resources include the North Texas Food Bank’s open food pantries, tax filing information, and job opportunities.

Senior Source Resources

This is the link to the Senior Source’s COVID-19 resource guide. The guide includes information for seniors, including information on specific grocery store hours dedicated to seniors, and guidance for those who are caring for seniors during the pandemic. 

If you have more questions about COVID-19, including what you should do if you believe you might have the virus, check out the City’s web page, www.DallasCityHall.com/coronavirus. 

Please share this update. The official page to sign up to receive this newsletter is here. 

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reply to this email or call my office at (214) 670-3301.

Sincerely,

Eric Johnson
Mayor
City of Dallas
eric.johnson@dallascityhall.com
(214) 670-3301

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