Houston-area nursing home resident and Dallas man in his 60s die from coronavirus

A man in his 80s who was living in a nursing home in northwest Harris County died from COVID-19, local officials reported Thursday afternoon. Officials are investigating whether he had contact with other people.

The announcement of his death came shortly after local officials in Dallas County announced another man had died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Texas now has a total of five known COVID-19-related deaths as of Thursday.

The Harris County man was among the group with the highest risk of having complications from the new coronavirus due to age and underlying health conditions, according to officials from Harris County Public Health.

The Dallas County man was in his 60s. He lived in Richardson and did not have a high-risk chronic health condition, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement.

Harris County has announced 24 cases of the new coronavirus, according to local officials.

Dallas County announced 20 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total case count in Dallas County to 55, according to local officials.

The new cases in Dallas 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.

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