Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has reported 787 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths on Tuesday, though 550 of them are backlogged cases from earlier this year. Only 237 of the reported new cases are from recent testing.
Both the city and county of Dallas have ended their contract with embattled Honu Management Group, which ran the largest public COVID-19 testing site, The Dallas Morning News reports. Honu won the $14 million contract less than two months ago, but questions arose about test security and timeliness earlier this summer. Parkland Health and Hospital System will take over Honu’s testing sites at the end of the month.
Texas became the fourth state to surpass 10,000 deaths on Monday, joining New Jersey, New York, and California. Experts say that current death counts are bound to be an undercount because of insufficient testing at the beginning of the pandemic. The Texas Tribune has more.
Local photographer and artist Carrie Mae Weems has partnered with several cultural institutions in North Texas to launch a campaign to raise awareness about high infection rates in Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American communities. Eight billboards display photos from Weems’ archive along with English and Spanish messages about the virus, KERA reports.
