Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced today that beginning Saturday all residents over the age of 2, will be required to wear a face-coverings when visiting essential businesses in an attempt to flatten the curve of COVID-19. Essential business employees and those riding public transportation are also required to comply with the order.
The order calls for fabric coverings, not medical-grade masks or N-95 respirators, for people who are visiting grocery stores, banks and other essential businesses.
As of publication, Dallas County had more than 2,000 cases of COVID-19 in the county, with 80 being reported today. Seven additional deaths were also reported today.
Other local news sources have stated that Hunt County would start requiring face coverings as well. The Herald-Banner has since retracted that information.
A caller claiming to be Hunt County Judge Bobby Stovall contacted the Herald-Banner Thursday afternoon, indicating the county would follow Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in requiring people visiting essential businesses, working in essential businesses or those riding public transportation to have a piece of cloth covering their mouth and nose.
Herald- Banner
Stovall called the newspaper Thursday evening to say that Hunt County would not be doing so.
Across the state of Texas, there have been 158,547 test administered. Out of those 16,455 Texans in 191 counties have tested positive for the coronavirus as of April 16. In the last week, there have been 194 deaths bringing the total to 393.
On March 4, DSHS reported Texas’ first positive case of the coronavirus, in Fort Bend County. The patient had recently traveled abroad. A month later on April 4, there were 6,110 cases in 151 counties.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services offers an interactive map where you can track cases across the state.
A dashboard for Rockwall County has been set up by Johns Hopkins University. It can be found here.
If you think you may have COVID-19, the DSHS has launched a website to find testing sites across the state. It can be found here.
