Recoveries have also begun to outpace active cases in the last week—a positive sign, Richardson said at an Aug. 11 Denton County Commissioners meeting.
Public health authorities reported 2,953 active cases Aug. 11. This is roughly 141 active cases lower than the highest reported number of active cases Aug 1.
New positive cases each day have continued in a downward trend since July 22. On Aug. 11, 122 new cases in the county were reported by public health authorities.
In Denton County, there have been 835 new cases of the novel coronavirus since Aug. 4. This is about 11% of the total cases in Denton County, which now number 7,867, according to public heath authorities. ZIP code 75067 continues to have the greatest number of total confirmed cases among area ZIP codes, with 802 cases.
The ZIP code with the second-highest number of total cases is 75056, which reports 688 cases. Those in the 20-29 age group in Denton County have consistently had the largest number of positive cases of any demographic, followed by those ages 30-39, in recent weeks.
Ten deaths were reported in Denton County over the past week. The four most recent deaths were reported Aug. 11. Those deaths include a Lewisville man in his 60s, a Highland Village woman over 80 years old, a Highland Village resident in his 40s and a woman in her 70s from Carrollton. The total number of deaths in the county since tracking began in March is 66. Among the key indicators to watch, health experts have said, is the number of hospitalizations. Denton County reported 50 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of July 30. This is roughly 39 fewer occupied beds than the week before. Another key indicator being watched by experts is the state’s positivity rate, which hit a record high in Texas on Aug. 10 with a rate of 23.92%. 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.
Denton County's positivity rate dropped from 12.8% to 4% for the week of Aug. 2-8. This large dip is largely due to a large number of backlogged test results being delivered at once, Richardson said. This can cause an artificially low positivity rate, he said.
Here is a look at the state's rate since early April:
