There are 2,333 COVID-19 patients in North Texas hospitals, representing 16.59 percent of bed capacity and 39.51 percent of adult ICU patients, Steve Love of the DFW Hospital Council reports. The overall percent occupancy of all inpatient pediatric patients to bed capacity is currently running 93.91 percent as the fourth surge of the virus continues in North Texas.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins reports 769 COVID-19 cases and three deaths on Monday, and only 14 available ICU beds in Dallas County.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Monday asked a court to block Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate. He argues that the governor’s ban violates state law and that Jenkins be allowed to take measures to manage the pandemic including mask mandates. This comes as transmission of the Delta variant is exploding in Texas and local hospital emergency departments are overrun by COVID-19 patients. Read more with The Dallas Morning News.
Dallas ISD announced today it will be instituting a “temporary” mask policy starting tomorrow, KERA reports. Staff, students and visitors will be required to wear face coverings, regardless of their vaccination status. This comes as Centers for Disease Control and Dallas County Health officials have raised the COVID-19 alert to level red and reported rising hospitalization rates. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has an order in place banning government entities and schools from issuing mask mandates, but DISD rejected this idea in a statement.
