Bad News: COVID Is Spiking in Dallas County Once Again

It seems everyone is coming down with a case of the summertime sniffles, and anecdotal and official reports are pointing to a midsummer spike of COVID-19.

Texas stopped mandating the reporting of COVID-19 cases in March, but the Observer recently spoke with a handful of pharmacies across Dallas County that have reported a recent jump in the number of prescriptions written each day for Paxlovid, a medication used to treat COVID, and the number of patients saying they have tested positive for the virus.

“It has definitely gone up in the past few weeks,” one Dallas-area pharmacist told the Observer.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 infections are increasing in most states, including Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services tracks the number of COVID-19 cases voluntarily reported to the department, and the weekly Respiratory Virus Surveillance Report shows cases across the state were up 41% in the first week of July when compared to the week prior. Tarrant, Dallas and Harris counties were among several identified as having an increased number of cases.

According to Dr. John Carlo, CEO of Prism Health North Texas, the region’s supply of at-home COVID-19 tests and Paxlovid are sufficient for current demand, but unusually high numbers of other respiratory illnesses are making it difficult for health officials to get an accurate sense of how many actual COVID cases are out there. Potential variant strains of the virus and vaccine use can also alter the way symptoms present, resulting in undiagnosed cases, he said.

“It’s a little bit of everything right now,” Carlo told the Observer, adding that viruses like the flu, RSV or the common cold are “showing pretty high numbers this year” as well.

He recommends keeping several at-home COVID tests around throughout the summer, and testing even if symptoms seem as minor as allergies. Staying up to date on vaccine boosters can help avoid serious infections as well. Dallas' medical community is keeping an eye on an updated COVID-19 booster vaccine that is expected to come out later this year ahead of the winter flu season, he said.

As for why cases are spiking, summertime travel and hot temperatures pushing people indoors could be to blame. Dallas County Health and Human Services still publishes an estimated daily infection risk level, which, as of the time this story was written, was marked as "proceed carefully," or a two out of four in severity.

"What we're seeing from different hospitals and people reporting is there is a slight uptick in COVID cases, but it's not something for people to be alarmed by like a few years ago," Christian Grisales, spokesperson for DCHHS, said. "It could be multiple reasons why people are getting COVID, but we are encouraging people to still get vaccinated ... wash their hands, and avoid crowded places as necessary."