COVID-19 Bulletin (12/14/20)
Nearly 4,000 new cases added Saturday and Sunday as vaccine distribution begins.
By Will Maddox
Published in
Healthcare Business
December 13, 2020
8:36 pm
3,929 cases on Saturday and Sunday, with 12 deaths.
Governor Abbott released news that
Texas will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to staff members and residents of long-term care facilities starting December 21. Free vaccines from Pfizer will be provided to facilities as part of the federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, KERA News reported.
The pandemic has crushed the spirits of many Texas health care workers after claiming the lives of over 1,000 of their colleagues across the nation since the beginning of the pandemic. Other
Dallas County closes out deadliest week of pandemic with 2,111 new coronavirus cases, 8 more deaths
Tarrant County adds 25 COVID-19 deaths, posting double-digit fatalities for the sixth day in a row. Twenty of the deaths were more than a month old, officials said.
Revised to include information about the Tarrant County victims.
Dallas County on Saturday reported 2,111 more coronavirus cases, all of them considered new. Eight new COVID-19 deaths were also reported.
The latest victims include a Farmers Branch man and a Garland man in their 50s; two Dallas men, a Dallas woman, an Irving man and a Mesquite man in their 60s; and a DeSoto woman in her 80s. All had been critically ill in the hospital, and all but the Farmers Branch man had underlying health conditions.
After surviving what s been a truly hellacious year, Dallas residents could use a bit of good news. Distribution of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine will begin soon, a prospect that’s filling the region’s public health specialists with hope.
In a virtual town hall Thursday hosted by Dallas U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, two of North Texas’ top medical experts told constituents about the current state of COVID-19 affairs. Texas will likely begin offering the Pfizer vaccine to health care employees, frontline workers and vulnerable populations now that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has recommended its use.
“This is about as clean a vaccine as I’ve seen in my career,” said Dr. Trish Perl, chief of the division of infectious diseases at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “It really looks good.”