UPDATE: Eight more COVID-19 cases reported overnight, local nursing homes being tested

May 30--Eight more cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Hunt Counth and all of the residents of the nursing homes in county are expected to have been tested for COVID-19 as of this weekend.

Teams of firefighters from departments across North Texas have been involved with the process, under a directive by Gov. Greg Abbott, as part of a task force collaborating with the Texas Division of Emergency Management. A total of 139 nursing homes were to be tested in Hunt, Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall counties.

It is now Hunt County's turn, according to County Civil Attorney Daniel Ray.

"Basically we have four nursing homes in Hunt County that are relevant to that state order," Ray said, noting they all fall under a separate legal classification of nursing facilities.

"One of those, Briarcliff in Greenville, has already performed their own tests," Ray said. "The other ones they're testing on Saturday."

Ray said the tests will not be conducted by troops with the Texas National Guard that may be associated with the TDEM.

"It is going to be the paramedics and EMTs from the departments," he said.

Personnel from 14 North Texas fire departments and the Garland Office of Emergency Management make up the task force.

"I don't know how long it will take to get the results back," Ray said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported that as of Friday afternoon, 2,198 people had been tested for the virus in Hunt County, 103 more than on Thursday and 190 more than on Wednesday.

Hunt County added three more confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday night.Eight new positive test results for COVID-19 have been reported in Hunt County, with one more patient hospitalized.

A report Thursday night from the office of County Judge Bobby Stovall indicated the newest cases actually raised the county's total COVID-19 count by six, as two previously-reported cases have been removed from the County's tracking after it was determined one of the cases lives just outside the County's limits, and the other has a different transmittable illness.

The Health Department's initial investigation determined the individuals in question included a female, aged 65 plus, from ZIP Code 75474, which includes the city of Quinlan, who is in hospital; a female, aged 0-17, from ZIP Code 75474; a female, aged 31-49, residing in ZIP Code 75401, which includes the city of Greenville; a female, aged 50-64, from ZIP Code 75401; a male, aged 50-64, living in ZIP Code 75422, which includes an area of northwest Hunt County including a portion near Farmersville; a female, aged 18-30, from ZIP Code 75401; a female, aged 31-49 from ZIP Code 75401; and a female, aged 31-49, from ZIP Code 75474.

The last seven patients were all reported recovering at home.

As of Saturday morning, there were 88 total confirmed cases of the virus in the county. Four people had reportedly died from COVID-19 in Hunt County as of press time Friday.

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