El Paso’s active virus cases top all-time high of 8,000; record numbers hospitalized & in ICUs

EL PASO, Texas -- For the 12th day running, El Paso County set a new record high for active coronavirus cases, exceeding 8,000 on Sunday morning. The county simultaneously also set records for both hospitalizations and those requiring intensive care due to the virus.

The milestones were fueled by 684 new infections reported by health officials along with 14 delayed positive results. There were 8,061 active cases as of Sunday morning.

Officials on Sunday also reported three new deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total number of pandemic fatalities to 557. The latest victims were all men in their 70s, officials said.

Hospitalizations due to virus-related illness reached an all-time pandemic high of 449 on Sunday, with 45 of those on ventilators.

After setting a record Saturday for the number of hospitalized patients listed in intensive care at 118, El Paso shattered that grim marker on Sunday with 129 people now in ICUs. According to state data, there are only seven total available ICU beds currently among all the hospitals in the El Paso region.

The total number of virus cases among El Pasoans throughout the pandemic now stands at 32,758. Health officials listed 23,997 people as having recovered. However, as ABC-7 has previously reported, doctors and medical research suggest that some recovered persons may face long-term health consequences as a result of having been infected with the virus.

Complete El Paso health department data on Covid-19 can be found online at epstrong.org.