Texas Nears 10,000 COVID-19 Deaths

The death toll in Texas from the coronavirus moved nearer to 10,000 Sunday, with 143 deaths, bringing the total to 9,983. The Texas Department of State Health Services said the number of reported cases increased to 535,980. The number of hospitalizations has been decreasing, as has the number of newly reported cases.

There were 6,204 new cases* in Texas. Officials report testing is down, but positivity is up. The Texas DSHS says testing being down is due to not enough people taking tests.

Several commercial laboratories have submitted backlogs of test results to DSHS this week. As they add the backlogged test results to the electronic reporting system, some counties receive notification of COVID positive results that were previously diagnosed but not reported to the local health department at the time of completion of the test. Thus, the statewide confirmed case counts and some county case counts will include some older cases over the next few days. DSHS works daily with laboratories to facilitate reporting to ensure local jurisdictions receive timely laboratory reports. They notified patients at the time of diagnosis through a separate process.