Dallas reports surge in people testing positive for coronavirus and death of a 60-year-old man

A man in his 60s who tested positive for the new coronavirus died in Dallas County, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement.

The man lived in Richardson and did not have a high-risk chronic health condition, according to the release.

Dallas County also announced 20 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus discovered in late 2019, bringing the total case count in Dallas County to 55, according to local officials.

The new cases consist of six men and two women in their 30s, two men and two women in their 50s, two men and three women in their 60s, one woman in her 70s and one woman in her 90s. Three of the affected people are hospitalized with one in a critical care unit. The other 16 are self-isolating in their homes.

This is the fourth death from the new coronavirus in Texas in as many days. The first known novel coronavirus-related death was a man in his late 90s in Matagorda County. The second was a man in his 70s in Tarrant County who lived in a retirement home and the third was a 64-year-old man in Collin County.

There are at least 143 known cases of COVID-19 in the state — a number that’s been steadily rising in the state as testing becomes more readily available.