With COVID-19 Cases Spiking, Fort Worth And Tarrant County Issue 'Urgent Stay-At-Home Requests'
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The City of Fort Worth and Tarrant County have issued formal requests asking residents to stay at home and drastically limit social interactions to help combat the record-breaking surge in COVID-19 cases.
Officials said with the number of positive cases increasing daily it's up to everyone to do their part to help reduce the transmission of the virus.
"We're telling everyone the increasing number of COVID cases aren't good," said Fort Worth public health director Brandon Bennett. "We must be purposeful and immediate to take action and urge everyone to stay at home as much as possible."
In March, Tarrant County saw an average of 100 daily cases, and by July it had risen to 500 daily cases. To date, those numbers have increased exponentially.
"We have been seeing around 1,500 cases over the past 10 days – 2,100 in a single day this week – and a projected daily volume of almost 3,000 cases by December," Bennett said.
Officials say while they do have enough personal protection equipment for residents and those on the front lines, residents should know and expect that access to doctors, hospitals, and even retail businesses is changing.
"Medical and hospital resources are limited and we should expect to see some tightening of occupancy limits at higher-risk establishments and activities such as food service, bars, entertainment venues and the like," Bennett said.
Officials in Tarrant County are echoing the message from Fort Worth, telling people that they should limit or stop having guests and extended family gatherings. Focus on essential visits only, such as medical, take-out food orders or grocery shopping, and avoid all non-essential travel.
Leaders are stressing that wearing a mask, social distancing and washing your hands is more important than ever and say, "It's no longer safe not to practice these life-saving measures."
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