DALLAS _ Dallas County ended its deadliest week with nine new COVID-19 deaths and 1,031 new cases of coronavirus. The county reported 74 fatalities on the week, up sharply from a then-record 54 deaths the week before.
The new cases bring Dallas' total case count to 40,222, including 523 deaths.
"All this is strong indication that you should wear a mask when outside your home and avoid any business where masks are not being worn 100% of the time," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Saturday evening. "It's up to all of us to #FlattenTheCurve, and the best way to do that is to limit trips outside the home to absolute necessities and always wear a mask."
The nine deaths include:
_Five Dallas men _ one in his 30s, one in his 50s, two in their 70s and one in his 80s _ who all had underlying health conditions and died while hospitalized.
_A man in his 60s who was an inmate at a correctional facility, had underlying health conditions and died in a hospital.
_Two Mesquite residents _ a man and a woman, both in their 70s _ who had underlying health conditions and died while hospitalized.
_A Richardson woman in her 90s who had underlying health conditions and died in a hospital.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced Saturday that 70% of the city's hospital beds and 71% of its ICU beds are occupied, while 40% of ventilators are in use. In the city's 25 hospitals, 1,812 beds, 267 ICU beds and 588 ventilators remain unoccupied.
As Dallas County continues to pile up grim numbers, so is Texas as a whole. Texas reported 130 deaths on Saturday, it's second-highest one-day death toll and the fifth time in 10 days that it has topped 100 deaths, having first done so on July 9.
The state also reported 10,158 new coronavirus cases, the seventh time in 12 days that it has topped 10,000 cases, having first done so July 7.
Texas had recorded 317,730 coronavirus cases and 3,865 COVID-19 fatalities as of Saturday.
Meanwhile, a record 10,658 people were hospitalized with the virus across Texas on Saturday. The state last posted a one-day hospitalizations total under 10,000 on July 9. A month ago _ on June 18 _ the total stood at 2,947. On May 18, it was 1,551.
According to the state dashboard, it took 84 days for Texas to reach a one-day hospitalizations total above 5,000. It took only 14 days to hit its first one-day total of more than 10,000.
While hospitalizations remained in the 5,000s for four days, in the 6,000s for two days, in the 7,000s for three days, the 8,000s for two days and the 9,000s for three days, statewide hospitalizations have remained in the 10,000s for nine days. The two highest one-day totals, however, occurred Friday and Saturday.
Across the state on Saturday, 966 intensive-case unit beds were available and 10,831 hospital beds overall.
