Children, young adults driving COVID-19 surge in North Texas, experts say
DALLAS - Both Dallas and Tarrant counties reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
Doctors at Parkland and Dallas County say the spread is being driven by children and young adults.
Dallas County reported a total of 1,248 on Monday, and Tarrant County reported 1,515.
Hospitalizations are ticking up but are still hovering around half the amount of hospitalizations from the summer peak.
Health officials say COVID fatigue has set in and people need to, once again, wear masks and take precautions.
An ongoing spike in new coronavirus cases in Texas has the state rapidly approaching one million confirmed cases overall since the start of the pandemic.
In North Texas, the biggest spikes are in Tarrant and Dallas counties.
“We are running about 1,700 with COVID-19,” explained DFW Hospital Council CEO Stephen Love. “That’s about 85% of what we had in July.”
Over the weekend, more than 500 COVID-19 patients were in the hospital.
Schools are open. They weren't before. Churches are open. They weren't before. Restaurants and bars are open. They weren't before,” said Parkland Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Chang. “What we see is actually not surprising. We see the demographic of folks getting sick are the younger folks.”
Parkland Hospital says it’s seeing more school-aged children getting infected.
Dallas County reports the largest demographic driving the spread is young adults between 18 and 40. But unlike the start of the pandemic or even the summer spike, fewer people are getting seriously ill.
“We've seen the folks who are really at risk,” Dr. Chang said. “They are still taking this seriously. They are still wearing their masks. They are still staying at home. Not really going out that much as a whole.”
But an area popular with people who do want to go out in Dallas County is the 75204 zip code. It’s a red area on the Dallas County heat map. And spans across parts of Uptown, Oak Lawn and East Dallas. It’s one of the areas with the most new cases.
Dr. Chang says he wants younger people to recognize that no one is immune to contracting the virus.
“This morning I received a text from a friend who told me her brother passed away this weekend from COVID here in Dallas. He was 36. By all accounts, a young healthy guy,” Dr. Chang said. “So here’s the thing guys: COVID really doesn't care.”
Love says COVID fatigue is helping fuel the spread.
“We know we need to keep businesses open and schools open,” he said. “But we just got to learn to coexist. And if everyone would do their part, we could until we get that vaccine that is needed.”
The good news in this concerning uptick, health officials say there is plenty of PPE and capacity for hospitals if things continue to increase.