Richardson man first confirmed coronavirus death in Dallas County

Dallas County identified its first patient to have died from the novel coronavirus as a Richardson resident.

The death comes as Dallas County's total presumptive cases reached 51 as of March 19.

The individual was a man in his 60s who was found deceased in his home, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang.

"I don't want to sugarcoat this, this will get worse before it gets better," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. "How bad it gets is directly tied to ... how each of us leads our people to exercise personal responsibility and to follow those CDC guidelines."

Jenkins stressed that those who are unable to afford health care could inadvertently contribute to the acceleration of the spread of the virus in the coming weeks.

"In Dallas County alone, the quarter of a million people who work for a living but don't make enough wages to afford health care—and we don't have Medicaid expansion in Texas—...don't have any access to coverage or a primary caretaker," he said, noting that Dallas County "is the most uninsured metro area in the U.S."

Daily updates on the county's coronavirus patient tally can be found at www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/