Five COVID-19 Deaths, jump in cases, Public Health reports today

Tarrant County Public Health Reports Five COVID-19 Deaths

High case count with influx of backlogged private lab results

Aug. 15, 2020 (Tarrant County, TX) - Tarrant County Public Health reported five COVID-19 deaths and 1,487 new cases today. The increase in cases is expected to continue for a few days while old data is received from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Many of the tests are from more than a month ago and largely from private labs. An influx of recoveries is expected to be reported over the next couple of days as well.

The deceased include one man from Fort Worth in his 80s, one woman from Benbrook in her 70s, a man and woman from Arlington both in their 60s and a woman from Arlington in her 40s. The two Arlington women had no underlying conditions.

The new cases are the result of an electronic lab report backlog being sent from the DSHS.

DSHS recently upgraded its disease surveillance system to provide more timely information to local health departments.

Tarrant County now has 451 confirmed deaths from the COVID-19 virus and 26,396 people have recovered.

COVID-19 causes respiratory illness with cough, fever and shortness of breath and may lead to bronchitis and severe pneumonia. For more information go to coronavirus.tarrantcounty.com [outdated link] or call the Tarrant County Public Health information line, 817-248-6299, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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