El Paso sees 1 new virus death as cases drop, vaccines at milestone

EL PASO, Texas -- Public health officials announced one new death and 381 additional Covid-19 cases in El Paso County on Sunday.

The latest death was a man in his 90s to raise the pandemic fatality count to 1,759, although there remain over 500 deaths under investigation that are suspected to be Covid-caused.

As of Sunday morning, there were 35,038 active infections, with a cumulative total of 116,644 cases.

"The number of new Covid-19 cases in the past week fell below 3,000, the first time that’s happened in 2021. However, El Paso continues to average one death from Covid-19 every three hours," wrote El Paso Matters CEO Bob Moore in his weekly analysis of the pandemic.

Officials estimated 79,278 residents have recovered from the virus since last March, however doctors caution that some of those recovered persons may still face long-term health issues as a result of having been infected,

On the vaccine front, health leaders said 134,575 doses have been allocated to providers in El Paso to date, with 120,359 having been administered.

"In the coming days, El Paso will become the first large Texas county to fully vaccinate 5% of its population over 16 and the first with 15% receiving at least one vaccine dose," Moore observed of what will be a milestone moment, but he added: "We still don't know if vaccines are getting to those who need them most."

For complete El Paso health department virus data visit EPStrong.org.