Dallas Country reported 2,366 more COVID-19 cases today and 30 deaths.
Seven of the victims were Dallas residents: two men in their 60s, two women in their 70s and three men in their 80s.
Eight of the victims were Garland residents: two men in their 50s, a man and two women in their 70s, two men in their 80s and a man in his 90s.
The other 15 fatalities were a Farmers Branch man in his 50s, an Irving man in his 60s who died at home, a Mesquite woman in her 60s, an Irving woman in her 60s, a Mesquite man in his 60s, a Rowlett man in his 60s, a Mesquite woman in her 70s, an Irving woman in her 70s, a Desoto man in his 70s, a Mesquite man in his 70s, a Rowlett woman in her 70s, a Lancaster man in his 80s, a Grand Prairie man in his 80s, a Desoto man in his 80s, and an Irving man in his 90s.
All but seven victims had underlying health conditions.
These are the details on the four victims from Irving
- A man in his 60's who was a resident of the City of Irving. He expired in an area hospital emergency unit, and did not have underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 60's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Irving. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A woman in her 70's who was a resident of the City of Irving. She had been critically ill in an area hospital and had underlying high-risk health conditions.
- A man in his 90's who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Irving. He expired in the facility.
With the latest numbers, Irving has had 13,540 Coronavirus cases and sadly, 91 total deaths.
Judge Clay Jenkins twitted, "Wearing a mask whenever you are in an indoor setting and outside your home, and within your home when anyone other your household members are present. Foregoing get-togethers this holiday and avoiding crowds is critical."
The increase in cases could be due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Another topic in world news has been the mutation of the COVID-19 virus in the U.K.
The CDC has provided the following information on this variant strain:
"Since November 2020, a variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 has become prevalent in the southeast of England, reportedly accounting for 60% of recent infections in London. This variant has a mutation in the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein at position 501, where amino acid asparagine (N) has been replaced with tyrosine (Y). The shorthand for this mutation is N501Y, sometimes noted as S:N501Y to specify that it is in the spike protein. This variant carries many other mutations, including a double deletion (positions 69 and 70)."
On why the variant emerged in the UK, the CDC says... "By chance alone, viral variants often emerge or disappear, and that may be the case here. Alternatively, it may be emerging because it is better fit to spread in humans. This rapid change from being a rare strain to becoming a common strain has concerned scientists in the UK, who are urgently evaluating the characteristics of the variant strain and of the illness that it causes."
What implications could the emergence of new variants have?
- Ability to spread more quickly in humans.
- Ability to cause either milder or more severe disease in humans.
- Ability to evade detection by specific diagnostic tests.
- Decreased susceptibility to therapeutic agents such as monoclonal antibodies.
- Ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity.
Although the vaccines have provided some necessary good news and hope, it is clear that we are not anywhere close to going back to a "normal" lifestyle.
