Denton County Public Health announced Tuesday that four more county residents have died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the countywide death toll to 466.
The deaths reported Tuesday include a Northlake man in his 50s, a woman in her 70s who lived in unincorporated southeast Denton County and two residents of unincorporated southwest Denton County, which includes Lantana — a woman in her 40s and a man in his 60s.
“Today we are announcing four additional community members have passed away due to COVID-19,” stated Denton County Judge Andy Eads. “We ask our community members to continue utilizing public health recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19 within Denton County.”
DCPH Director Dr. Matt Richardson has said many times that COVID-19 deaths that DCPH reports are deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, as opposed to someone who had COVID-19 but died primarily due to something else.
During Tuesday’s Denton County Comissioners Court meeting, Richardson said that COVID-19 hospitalizations are still trending down. The rate began falling in January and reached about 6% in early March, and it had held steady around there for most of the month, but then it began falling again last week. It’s still higher than the regional average by less than a percentage point.
“Our seven-day average has been declining in the last week, and yesterday we were at 4.6%, which is terrific,” Richardson said. It did tick up the last two days, but we’re hopeful that that’s just a blip.”
While new surges have been reported in other parts of the country and world, the numbers show that the weekly onset of illness in Denton County is declining.
“New COVID-19 activity is on the decline in Denton County, as it is in Texas,” Richardson said. “This is the lowest level since the first week in September.”
DCPH also announced Tuesday 89 new cases of COVID-19 in the county, 83 of which are active, as well as 327 new recoveries. There are now 6,467 active cases in Denton County, the lowest it’s been since Dec. 3.
Richardson said vaccinations — which are now available to all Texans 16 and older — have played a big part in the improvement. However, he still urged residents to continue to wear masks and follow CDC guidelines so that the trend continues.
The Highland Village Fire Department has been allocated COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, and people 18 and older can register here to receive the vaccine at the HVFD, 1200 Highland Village Road.
To minimize spread of COVID-19, DCPH urges all community members to:
- Maintain at least six feet of physical distance in public settings and when around individuals outside of the household
- Wear masks or face coverings, which should cover both the nose and mouth, in public settings and when around individuals outside of the household
- Wash and/or sanitize hands frequently
- Stay home if you are symptomatic, have recently had close contact with a person with COVID-19, or have pending COVID-19 lab results
- When eligible and available to you, get your COVID-19 vaccine
Click here for more information about COVID-19 vaccines in Denton County. For additional COVID-19 data including active case information by municipality, hospital capacity, and ventilator utilization, visit dentoncounty.gov/COVIDstats. For information regarding DCPH’s upcoming testing centers, visit dentoncounty.gov/COVID19testing. For additional COVID-19 health and safety recommendations, visit dentoncounty.gov/COVID19.
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