Pandemic News

COVID-19 is officially surging across Dallas thanks to omicron variant

Get your booster and keep wearing those masks.

Photo by Getty Images

With COVID-19 now on the rise, Dallas County has returned the threat level to Red, the highest risk level on the county's COVID-19 scale. It had been set to Orange, for Extra Caution, since October.

December 28 saw a big spike in cases in Dallas County, one that reflects a spike across the U.S.

The number of positive COVID-19 cases reported daily in Dallas County has been at around 300 or less cases per day, but Tuesday's tally surged to 1,619, causing the county's Public Health Committee to take action.

"Our review demonstrated a dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and the hospital census in Dallas in the past week," the committee said in a release. "We do also know that we have clusters of COVID-19 associated with social events, increased outbreaks in congregate settings and Dallas County is seeing a significant impact on the health care staffing and with pressure on emergency departments."

In the same statement, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins noted a snowballing increase.

"The numbers for today are doubling the numbers from our last reported day before Christmas of 874 cases on December 23, which was an 82 percent increase of the day before," Jenkins said.

Jenkins recommended getting boosted, wearing a surgical mask, and avoiding crowds.

The U.S. set a new record this week for the number of new COVID-19 infections, with half a million cases reported on December 27, beating the previous record of 300,000 in one day.

The surge is due to the omicron variant, which is now the dominant variant in Dallas-Fort Worth, replacing the delta variant.

According to projections by UTSW, cases are expected to keep increasing to 800 cases daily in Dallas County and 500-plus daily infections in Tarrant County.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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