Active COVID-19 cases increase in Denton County, decrease in Collin County in recent weeks

County Judge Chris Hill said the DSHS was expected to set up a Collin County work group Aug. 25 that will be committed to rectifying the county’s backlog of cases. 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 classified as recovered, he said.

Among the ZIP codes in Frisco, the 75034 ZIP code had the greatest increase of total confirmed cases between Sept. 17-Oct. 8, with 218. That brings the total number of cases in that ZIP code since early March to 815.

The ZIP code with the second-highest number of added cases in the past two weeks is 75035, which reported 209 additional cases between Sept. 17-Oct. 8. The total is currently 929 cases.

Between Sept. 17-Oct. 8, the 75033 ZIP code added 188 cases, and the 75036 ZIP code added 79.

Data shows the 20-29 age group in Collin and Denton counties has had the highest number of total COVID-19 cases, but that age group is closely followed by those ages 30-39, ages 40-49 and ages 0-19, respectively. Data shows eight deaths in Collin County and four in Denton County in the past seven days. The total number of deaths since tracking began in March is 161 for Collin County and 113 for Denton County.

Among the key indicators being watched by experts is the number of hospitalizations. Collin County reported 104 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Oct. 8, and Denton County reported 42. In the last few weeks, that number has fluctuated in Collin County and remained mostly consistent in Denton County.

Collin County has a hospital bed capacity of 2,702. Denton County is reporting 274 available hospital beds out of 913, 38 available intensive care unit beds out of 100, and 252 available ventilators out of 326 as of Oct. 8.

Statewide, the number of patients who have tested positive with COVID-19 and are currently hospitalized is 3,556 as of Oct. 8. That compares with 3,246 patients who were hospitalized and had COVID-19 on Sept. 17.

The rate of confirmed cases takes into account population differences. In Texas, there were 26.34 confirmed cases per 1,000 people as of Oct. 8. Here are the rates per 1,000 people for the four North Texas counties as of Oct. 8.

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 Oct. 7, the rate was 6.47%. Here is a look at the rate since early April.