Another death from Covid-19 in El Paso as county’s death toll about to reach 100

EL PASO, Texas -- The Department of Public Health announced Friday morning that yet another person has died of Covid-19 and 45 more had tested positive for the virus in El Paso.

The latest victim was a man in his 80's with underlying health conditions, which brought the county's death toll just shy of 100.

The number of El Paso men who have died from the virus are twice that of women, which local health officials attribute to a greater number of men suffering from underlying issues - such as hypertension, which has been a factor in 60% of all deaths so far.

With the additional death and the new infections, El Paso now has a cumulative total of 98 deaths and 3,695 known cases. Since June 1, the number of new cases in El Paso County to date has grown by over 800.

Public health officials also reported Friday that 42 more people were listed as recovered, so there have now been 2,600 virus recoveries in El Paso, which leaves the county with 997 known active infections.

The health department said hospitalizations due to the virus increased from 81 to 85 on Friday. Officials said 45 of them are in the ICU and 27 on ventilators.

The increase in hospitalizations in El Paso comes at a time when Texas has also seen a spike, recording the largest number of hospitalizations this week since the beginning of the pandemic.

In addition, Col. Mike Oshiki of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center has expressed concern about the strain being placed on hospital intensive care units throughout El Paso as new cases continue to climb.

You can find more Covid-19 data for El Paso as well as information about testing sites on epstrong.org.