Dallas is on its way to a second, ‘worse’ spike in COVID-19 cases, says Parkland CEO

At the peak of Dallas County’s summer coronavirus wave, Parkland Memorial Hospital had a special COVID-19 unit known as the “red box” and 300 staffers to help people fight the disease at the center of a pandemic.

By early September, the public hospital tasked with caring for the county’s poorest residents closed that area as cases trended down.

But now, the hospital’s top doctor is warning that a nascent wave of COVID-19 could turn into something much worse.

“While not at the same level as our peak in mid-July yet, we are well on our way,” Dr. Fred Cerise, Parkland’s CEO, said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “The number of COVID patients at Parkland has tripled in just over a month, and the cases we are seeing today reflect community activity from two weeks ago.

"I have seen nothing in the past two weeks to make me think the curve we are on now will imminently flatten.”

County Judge Clay Jenkins at Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting noted that he and public health officials are out of policy prescriptions to blunt the virus’s spread.

Another shutdown such as the one put in place in March is unlikely. And a mandate for facial coverings, which are considered among the most effective health precautions to fight the virus, is already in place.

Dallas County health officials last week raised the perceived threat level to red, the county’s highest alert. That means residents should consider limiting movement to the most essential activities such as buying groceries.

Jenkins, the county’s highest elected official, has also decided against reopening bars, even as other North Texas counties move ahead with permission from Austin.

Cerise added that a surge in cases around the world and across the U.S. is additional evidence that matters are likely to get worse. So far this fall, Texas has not seen the sort of spike in cases that have gripped northern and Midwestern states such as Montana, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

“Unless we are willing to revisit some of the restrictions on gatherings and our commitment to masking, then there is reason to believe this current wave will be worse than the one we experienced in the summer,” Cerise said. "If we don’t take measures to avoid the spread of this disease seriously, we are heading into a difficult time for our community and our health care workforce, which has been overworked for the better part of a year now.”

A Parkland spokeswoman said the hospital’s special COVID-19 unit had not reopened and it was unclear when that might occur.

On Tuesday, Dallas County reported 510 new virus cases and four new deaths. More than 400 people visited a Dallas County emergency room reporting COVID-19 symptoms during the last 24 hours, up from about 300 on Sunday, according to county data. Tuesday’s number is about half of the more than 800 people who visited an emergency department in a single day during the summer surge.

The number of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases has become a key indicator to measure the disease’s trajectory.

The rising number in COVID-19 cases comes as the county also braces for the flu season, which generally runs from October through May.

Public health officials have worried that the combination of the coronavirus and an exceptionally tough flu season could push hospitals to the brink.

A record-breaking 930 people visited Parkland’s emergency room with the flu in a single day in 2018, one of the worst such seasons in recent memory.

The 2020 flu season was far less dire, with 2,000 people being hospitalized for the illness over several months in Dallas County.