HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-12 Euless Articles Tarrant County Adds 1,544 COVID-19 Cases
Tuesday, 12 Deaths
County cases top 122,400 with 1,026 dead since early March; an estimated 89,800 people have recovered from the virus
By Frank Heinz • Published December 15, 2020 • Updated on December 15, 2020 at 2:16 pm
The Tarrant County Public Health Department confirms 1,544 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday
along with another 12 new deaths. In the last seven days, the county has announced 9,718 new cases of the virus. Of the 1,544 additional cases reported Tuesday, data from the county health department indicates there are 1,030 more confirmed cases than the most recent report and 514 more probable cases.
The latest deaths included a woman from Arlington in her 90s, a woman from Azle in her 90s, a man and woman from Fort Worth in their 80s, a woman from Sansom Park in her 80s, a man from Fort Worth in his 70s, a man from Euless in his 70s, a man from White Settlement in his 70s, a man from Forest Hill in his 60s, a man from Arlington in his 60s, a man from Euless in his 50s, and a woman from Fort Worth in her 40s. All had underlying health conditions.
Tarrant County, which extended its mask mandate until Feb. 28, 2021, last month, began reporting both probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in August at the request of the state health department. Probable cases, the county said, account for a variety of real-world situations and could highlight cases in the community that may otherwise go unreported. To date, the county has reported 107,721 confirmed cases of the virus and 14,722 probable cases for a total of 122,443 cases.
The county is also reporting another 942 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 88,863. There are currently an estimated 32,554 active cases in the county, the most
of any North Texas county. Of the county's cases, 71% of those who have died were over the age of 65 even though they only make up 10% of the cases. Those aged 25 to 44 make up the largest percentage of people with COVID-19 at 36%.
The health department reports 919 COVID-19 patients are currently occupying hospital beds in the county on Tuesday, which accounts for about 18% of capacity; Tarrant County hospitals are operating at 81% total capacity Tuesday. TCPH data shows 336 of 731 total ventilators in use, it's not clear how many are in use by COVID-19 patients.
With 1,026 deaths now attributed to the virus, COVID-19 is now projected to be the third-leading killer of Tarrant County residents behind cancer and heart disease and is expected to surpass the annual total for stroke later this year. COVID-19 causes a respiratory illness with cough, fever and shortness of breath and may lead to bronchitis, severe pneumonia or even death. For more information go to coronavirus.tarrantcounty.com or call the Tarrant County Public Health information line, 817-248-6299, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Tarrant County prepares for first deliveries of
COVID -19 vaccines
Hospitals like Harris Methodist, Cook Children's and JPS will be among the first to receive thousands of doses
FORT WORTH, Texas — By the end of this week, some Tarrant County hospitals will have received between 18,000 and 20,000 doses of Pfizer’s brand-new COVID-19 vaccine. “Everyone's excited,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. “The end may be in sight.” And Whitley says the doses will keep coming, saying next week the county could see significantly more. “It could be 30,000 to 40,000 vaccines,” he said. Like we saw in Dallas Monday, the first shots in Tarrant County will be going to hospital workers: nurses, doctors and supporting staff. In total this week, the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council says more than 50,000 medical staff will be vaccinated. “There are I believe eight or nine different facilities in Tarrant County that will be receiving at least the minimum dose, which is at least 975 vaccines,” Whitley said. But details of how, when and where the general public will receive the vaccine are less clear at this point in time. “How it's going to be disseminated to the general public I think is yet to be determined,” said Stephen Love, who heads the DFW Hospital Council. “I do know the state, DSHS, probably later this week is going to announce the distribution for week two.” “Each week we're going to know more and understand more,” Whitley said of the process. Texas Health Harris Methodist near downtown Fort Worth is expected to be the first hospital in Tarrant County to receive the vaccine, netting 5,850 doses, according to the state. Cook Children’s Medical Center said it expected doses by the end of the week but didn’t know the exact time frame. “The good news is—the vaccine's coming,” Whitley said. “The news I don't want to quit
putting out there is: don't let your guard down. Wear the masks. Do the social distancing.” Because even with this historic development, the pandemic has not ended.
Power Outage Fears on a Cold Weekend
Oncor confirms weeks of outages from Euless to Colleyville blamed on an underground cable problem
By Ken Kalthoff • Published January 8, 2021 • Updated on January 8, 2021 at 9:48 pm Several Tarrant County communities have experienced repeated power failures since around Christmas a spokesperson for North Texas electric provider Oncor confirmed Friday. Oncor representative Carrie Dunn said the problem is an underground cable near the corner of Ash Lane and Bear Creek Parkway in Euless that has been repaired several times but still requires a total replacement within the next few weeks. Dunn encouraged residents to sign up for service interruption alerts at Oncor.com. Residents of several large apartment complexes in that area contacted NBC 5 with questions they could not answer about the failures that occurred several times a week since around Christmas. “That’s why I called you all. We just need to find out how long is it going to go on and hopefully it doesn’t get worse,” resident Ruth Moinde said. She said there is no way to stay warm when the power failures strike. “No, the heat goes off. Everything goes off. We're in darkness. So, it's a concern in the neighborhood, that it's frequent,” she said. Resident Mike Ashton in another nearby complex said the outages happen without notice. “When you’re doing a meal, everything goes off, you know? And it’s really annoying,” he said. “With our technology, I just can’t see why they can’t get it fixed.” The company spokesperson said power failures from problems related to that underground cable
have occurred as far away as Colleyville during this period of time. Ashton said he and his neighbors are concerned about the weather forecast. “The weather is going to get really bad, really bad. So, if you have no heat, what do you do,” he said. Dunn said Oncor is aware of the hardship the failures have caused, especially with many people working from home and that service interruption during the major line replacement is expected to be minimal.