There are almost 700 new COVID19 cases in a rolling seven day period said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
Hospitalizations in the area are up also. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services – more than twice as many COVID19 hospitalizations are happening now as on July 18 and more than four times as many as on July 3.
Last year, Texas was one of ten “hot zone” states where COVID19 infections were surpassing expectations.
Per Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council President Stephen Love a majority of the people hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated. He encouraged everyone to get vaccinated.
700 New COVID19 Cases
The 700 new COVID18 cases represent the highest seven day average caseload of new infections since February 2021.
Rising numbers of COVID19 cases has the restaurant owner with a sign on his door informing his patrons to mask up or shut up.
Groves’ restaurant started mandating masks for its patrons last Thursday, July 29. Many, including Groves say they expect and are prepaing for the worst.
Here We Go Again Locally And Nationally
Locally, coronavirus numbers have returned to the same numbers as February 2021, similar to other parts of the country. In San Francisco though local bar and restaurant industry leaders acted similarly to Ellen’s: No Proof of Vaccination/No Service.
The San Francisco group represents five hundred bars who came together to say patrons must get a vaccine or skip going out to the bars represented by the group.
Beyond Groves, no organization has taken on the question of mandating masks or vaccination as strongly or as unified as the San Francisco example.
Currently, Governor Abbott has stopped localities from implementing government enforced requirements for masks or vaccinations.
COVID19 Numbers highest since February 2021 per Dallas County Health and Human Services with almost 1000 new cases report including several deaths. One of those deaths was a fifteen year old girl.
This time last year, Dallas was considered a medical hot zone for its COVID19 case load. Last week, UTSouthwestern pandemic modeling predicted six hundred new daily cases by August 9. Yesterday’s numbers top that by 60%.
Judge Jenkins released data about the new virus infections.
Locally, it is reported that Collin County and Tarrant both had hundreds of new infections reported also and that Denton County is down to ten ICU beds – the same issue driving restrictions earlier in the pandemic.
COVID19 Numbers Highest Since February – But Back To Normal?
Earlier in the week, Governor Abbott stated local governments and schools could not require a mask or vaccine mandate and it was a personal choice.
Dallas ISD has already said school will open under normal conditions with almost no option for virtual students.
The recent K-12 CDC Mask recommendation is being ignored by Governor Greg Abbott per statements reinforcing his May Executive Order.
The CDC has recommended everyone in the K-12 setting wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Children under 12 are not yet eligible for FDA authorized vaccinations.
When asked by a KXAN reporter about whether Texas would be allowed to enforce mask wearing his press secretary responded: “the time for government mandating of masks is over…”
The spokesperson goes on, “vaccines are the most effective defense against contracting COVID and becoming seriously ill, and we continue to urge all eligible Texans to get the vaccine. The COVID vaccine will always remain voluntary and never forced in Texas.”
K-12 CDC Mask Recommendation or Donald Trump?
It is not clear if the current course of action is due to the election calendar.
Governor Abbott is in a fierce primary contest for the Republican nomination for Governor. One of his opponents, Don Huffines, has already hit out at Abbott over the rolling blackouts and freezeout earlier in the year.
Abbott has soought the support of former President Donald Trump – despite a clear move away from Trump in many suburbs, including Dallas – over the infiltration of the Republican Party by QAnon.
A Dallas monkeypox case was reported by Dallas County Health and Human Services, but their spokesman says the confirmation of monkeypox infection in the city is “rare,” but “not a reason for alarm.”
DCHHS confirmed the infection in a person who traveled from Nigeria to Dallas and arrived at Love Field on July 9th. Health officials said Friday the person is currently isolated at a Dallas hospital, believed to be the Parkland Hospital Infectious Disease unit, to prevent the spread of the virus and is said to be in stable condition.
The case is the first known case of monkeypox in a Dallas resident. Dallas has been a Hot Zone for COVID19 and other infectious diseases because of its multiple international airports.
Dallas Monkeypox Background
The first human cases of monkeypox were recorded in 1970 in Africa, specifically the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the time there was an intensified effort to eliminate smallpox.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox.’
In humans, the symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but milder than the symptoms associated with smallpox.
Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion.
The primary difference between in symptoms between smallpox and monkeypox is monkeypox will cause lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy). Smallpox does not have cause lymphadenopathy.
The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7−14 days but can range from 5−21 days. The illness begins with:
A man is dead and community members are blaming SBA suicide and Brillient Corporation for the death. The man went missing Thursday night was found late Friday dead by suicide per Dallas Police and community sources.
Per sources the man had been an applicant to the federal Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and been denied despite facing significant hardship to his small business since COVID19.
A representative for US Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, declined comment. Our emails then played Congressional ping pong where we were pointed to the communications team from the Senate Banking Committee to Small Business Committee all of which also declined comment.
SBA or SBA Contractor Issues
One focal point is a group called Brillient Corporation which does contract work for the US Government.
In addition to the new suicide, we have identified not less than five local businesses being denied PPP or Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to women and minority owned businesses by Brillient.
There is no clear pattern to the denials and in two cases the denials stated “could not verify business existed.” Both businesses were found using the Texas Comptoller of Accounts business entity search function in moments.
SBA Suicide and Economic Development Issues Locally
SBA has had repeated issues with program red tape.
During a photo op recently staff for Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh stopped questions about these programs from another business asking why SBA was being unclear and unfair in administration of its programs.
Texas Governor Candidate Don Huffines says June rolling blackouts are “ridiculous.”
Huffines has announced for Governor and the gloves have already come off over issues such as border security, government spending, and now what Huffines describes as a “track record of failure.”
Huffines campaign goes on to say “current leadership failed to properly address our power grid issues, and as a result countless lives are at risk once again.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not responded to multiple requests for comment about the situation or Huffines’ comments, but last week claimed that the ERCOT situation was fixed.
June Rolling Blackouts
The news of potential June rolling blackouts came yester day as ERCOT announced it was nearing energy production capacity just days after the Texas legislature adjourned without taking serious action on the February blackouts that led to millions being left in subfreezing temperatures for up to a week.
Per a release, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking Texans to reduce electric use as much as possible today through Friday, June 18, 2021.
A significant number of forced generation outages combined with potential record electric use for the month of June has resulted in tight grid conditions.
Generator owners have reported approximately 11,000 MW of generation is on forced outage for repairs; of that, approximately 8,000 MW is thermal and the rest is intermittent resources.
According to the summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, a typical range of thermal generation outages on hot summer days is around 3,600 MW. One MW typically powers around 200 homes on a summer day.
ERCOT Fails Second Time In Five Months
This is the second time ERCOT has asked the public to reduce energy consumption due to an outdated system. The state legislature recently adjourned without taking up significant changes to the regulation of ERCOT.
In February 2021, ERCOT was unable to sustain power to the grid leading to millions of people without power and major home damage due to burst water pipes in subfreezing temperatures. At the time, the public expected Governor Greg Abbott and Austin leadership in the Texas legislature to take up grid reliability. It never happened this session.
Temperatures have been rising lately hitting the 90s. Last year, our first 100 degree day was July 2020.
Other Side Dallas will update with additional information on cooling stations and power issues locally as it becomes available.
United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was in Dallas yesterday providing a photo op for United State Representative Colin Allred and the administration’s American Jobs Plan. While he did a lot of talking, he did not answer a lot of questions.
Walsh tweeted that the YMCA location helps “make child care accessible and affordable, invest in early childhood programs, and provide development opportunities to young adults.”
Marty Walsh Missed Opportunity
One area of concern was a high school student believed to be from Hillcrest who tried to ask Secretary Walsh questions about the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The student had started a nonprofit focused on bringing assistance to children with cancer.
The nonprofit has received a loan qualification, but SBA staff have not finalized the loan to assist the nonprofit in staying afloat. The student was briefly detained by staff believed to have been associated with Secretary Walsh or Rep. Colin Allred.
Rep. Allred’s staff did say in a statement that this was a constituent services issue they would look into, but no questions were allowed during the photo op with Secretary Walsh at any of the locations he visited on this topic.
We hope everyone will join us in saying thank you DFW response community for all their hard work these past few days.
The parent of Other Side Dallas, the George Dealey Leadership Institute Foundation, is asking for your contributions so we can buy gift cards from local shops to say thank you to DFW first responders (police, fire, and EMS) along with their healthcare partners and road crews.
As we get through this storm we know they have given their all for us twenty-four hours a day.
