No new El Paso virus deaths as hospitalizations drop, but infections rising among children

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso public health officials on Sunday reported 68 new Covid-19 cases, but there were no new deaths.

Active infections numbered 1,533, while the death toll remained at 2,590.

Hospitalizations due to Covid-related illness in El Paso were at 90 on Sunday, marking the first time since last June that the hospitalization rate had dropped below 100. Of those 90 hospital patients currently, 35 were listed in intensive care while 28 required the use of ventilators.

"El Paso has settled into a 'new normal' with Covid-19, with a few hundred new cases each week, hospitalizations inching downward and a slowing rate of vaccinations," observed El Paso Matters CEO Bob Moore on Sunday in his weekly trend analysis.

But Moore also noted that despite the progress, there are challenges that remain.

"For the first time since the pandemic began, more than half the new weekly Covid-19 cases in El Paso were among children," he wrote. "The new infections were particularly pronounced among people 12-19... (who) were the only age group to see an increase in number of infections in that time."

With the Pfizer vaccine getting the go ahead this past week from federal health officials for use in adolescents age 12 and up, El Paso city, county and school district leaders are engaged in efforts to roll out the vaccine to the younger population.

Complete El Paso health department data on Covid-19 can be viewed at EPstrong.org.