Frisco reported 85 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, according to city data.
The city also reported 84 recoveries of the virus between Aug. 20-27 and 501 active cases as of Aug. 27. In recent weeks, Collin County added a disclaimer to its COVID-19 dashboard that says the county lacks confidence in the data currently being provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services. County commissioners first decided on the disclaimer during a discussion Aug. 17 about the backlog of coronavirus test results submitted by several commercial laboratories last week to DSHS.
Commissioners later revised the disclaimer to acknowledge the state health department is working to make the data as accurate as possible.
County Judge Chris Hill said DSHS planned to set up a Collin County work group Aug. 25 that will be committed to rectifying the county’s backlog of cases.
“They're going to be working to call everyone who's on that list that's currently active to determine whether or not they're still active or whether or not they're recovered,” he said.
Hill said the work group will be checking whether patients currently classified as active cases of COVID-19 have been symptom-free for 10 days so they can be reclassified as recovered. If the group is unable to reach a patient after three attempts, they will be reclassified as recovered, he said.
Data shows the 20-29 age group in Denton County has had the highest number of total COVID-19 cases, but that age group is closely followed by those ages 30-39 and ages 40-49. Collin County's case breakdown by age group and ZIP code were not available as of Aug. 27. Data shows nine deaths in Collin County and 10 in Denton County in the past seven days. The total number of deaths since tracking began in March is 108 for Collin County and 100 for Denton County.
Among the key indicators being watched by experts is the number of hospitalizations. Collin County reported 108 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Aug. 27, and Denton County reported 39. That number has generally fluctuated in both counties in recent days but has decreased in both counties in the last 10 days. Collin County has a hospital bed capacity of 2,702. Denton County is reporting 273 available hospital beds out of 892, 40 available intensive care unit beds out of 100 and 210 available ventilators out of 293 as of Aug. 27.
Statewide, the number of patients who have tested positive with COVID-19 and are currently hospitalized is 4,489 as of Aug. 27. That compares with 5,974 patients who were hospitalized and had COVID-19 a week ago.
Other key indicators being watched by experts is the state’s positivity rate, which hit a record high in Texas on Aug. 11 with a rate of 24.5%. The rate is averaged over the previous seven days and calculates the ratio of positive new cases compared with the number of tests. Gov. Greg Abbott has previously said that a rate of 10% or more is cause for concern. On Aug. 26, the rate was 13.03%. Here is a look at the rate since early April.
