LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — As of Friday there were at least three mobile morgues deployed in Las Cruces as the Borderland region sees a surge in Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Doña Ana County’s pandemic death toll has reached at least 121 – with 48 of those fatalities occurring within just the past two weeks.
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EL PASO, Texas – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is teaming up with William Beaumont Army Medical Center to open a 16-bed mobile intensive care unit on the campus of the Army hospital and the El Paso VA in central El Paso. The VA has transported the mobile ICU from Florida to El Paso
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WASHINGTON, DC — In the aftermath of the final sprint of the 2020 election season, more than 130 Secret Service officers have been sidelined due to the pandemic, the Washington Post reported Friday. Dozens of United States Secret Service officers have either tested positive for coronavirus or are self-isolating after close contact with someone who
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health announced 16 new coronavirus-related deaths Friday morning. The death toll now stands at 741. The latest victims were identified as: 2 men in their 50s1 woman in her 50s1 woman in her 60s3 men in their 70s2 women in their 703 men in
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EL PASO, Texas — A divided Texas appeals court on Thursday evening issued a temporary emergency order effectively halting El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego’s mandated shutdown to stem the surge of Covid-19. The Eighth Court of Appeals granted a request sought by Texas’ attorney general and local restaurant owners by striking down portions of
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EL PASO, Texas — UTEP will be postponing its December commencement ceremonies until spring, the university’s president told the Student Government Association during its meeting Thursday night. Heather Wilson told the students representatives that her administration has made the decision to defer the graduation event because “things are not getting better” when it comes to
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Arthur Sanchez’s memories of his various hospital stays are hazy but he hasn’t forgotten how it felt when Covid-19 took away his ability to breathe. “I would probably compare it to being underwater too long and not being able to come up for air,” Sanchez said while standing behind a
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EL PASO, Texas — As El Paso watches the spike of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, we can’t lose sight that each number represents a person. Edward Rodriguez died from the coronavirus in September. His brother, Joseph Rodriguez, shared his story with ABC-7. (Edward Rodriguez as a teen. Photo courtesy Joseph Rodriguez.) “He was older
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EL PASO, Texas — An eastside Walmart on Thursday afternoon became the latest of the retail giant’s El Paso stores to be abruptly closed for deep cleaning because of concerns about the surge of Covid-19 in the Borderland. A Walmart spokesperson said the store at 1850 N. Zaragoza Road was shut down Thursday afternoon and
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Southern New Mexico’s Doña Ana and Otero counties were responsible for seven of the state’s 18 additional coronavirus deaths on Thursday, while Doña Ana also reported a record 312 new virus cases among New Mexico’s 1,753 daily count. The seven latest fatalities in the two southern counties included: Three women
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, speaking at a news conference Thursday afternoon, publicly aired grievances with County Judge Ricardo Samaniego over his shutdown order to battle Covid-19. Margo said the judge did not speak with him before deciding to extend the order, which is now set to run until Dec. 1,
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — In an effort to deliver the most comprehensive coronavirus coverage, ABC-7 has started a weekly feature where we ask Dr. Jose Burgos, the director of internal medicine at University Medical Center, the same seven questions each week to track how the pandemic is changing. This week, Dr. Burgos was unavailable,
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health announced 29 new coronavirus-related deaths Thursday morning. That’s the most deaths ever reported in a single day in the county. The death toll now stands at 725. The latest victims were identified as: 1 man in his 30s1 man in his 40s1 man
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego on Wednesday extended the county’s emergency order shutting down non-essential businesses and services past the Thanksgiving holiday period in an effort to combat the spread of Covid-19. Samaniego’s order will now be in effect until Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 2 a.m., unless a court battle
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EL PASO, Texas — The glowing lights of arcade machines flash on and off across a silent room. A small carousel stands idly by, its colorful horses frozen in time. Gone are the sounds of buzzers, ringers, and skee balls at Peter Piper Pizza. Instead, a man paces around with a loud machine, dousing the
Continue Reading LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Southern New Mexico’s Doña Ana, Otero and Luna counties were responsible for six of the state’s 14 additional coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, while Doña Ana also reported a record 311 new virus cases among New Mexico’s 1,500 daily count. The 7-day rolling average of daily deaths linked to Covid-19 in
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has now surpassed one million Covid-19 infections since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University — becoming the first U.S. state to record such a staggering number of cases. That means about one tenth of the country’s more than 10 million positive tests were reported in
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant an emergency order aimed at halting El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego’s mandated shutdown involving non-essential businesses to stem the surge of Covid-19. The state’s top court said the Texas attorney general and local restaurant owners need to wait for a pending
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health announced 14 coronavirus-related deaths, and the record for hospitalizations in the county was also broken Wednesday morning. The death toll stands at 696 in El Paso County. The victims were identified as: 1 man in his 50s1 woman in her 50s1 man in
Continue Reading Wearing a mask can help protect you, not just those around you, from coronavirus transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance Tuesday. The statement was an update to previous guidance suggesting the main benefit of mask wearing was to help prevent infected people from spreading the virus to others. Cloth
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EL PASO, Texas– With a surge of Covid-19 attacking the Borderland again, nursing homes and assisted living facilities say have been ramping up to try and protect their most vulnerable populations. According to El Paso city officials, there are 146 active cases in nursing homes and 15 active clusters and 89 active cases at assisted
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EL PASO, Texas — Despite new measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, El Paso remains one of the hardest hit across the country, with soaring infections and hospitalizations that continue to climb. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said the county is receiving four more trailers in addition to the six mobile morgues already on
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EL PASO, Texas – UTEP’s upcoming football game against UAB is being moved from the Sun Bowl to Grande Stadium in Midland because of concern among UAB officials about the recent surge in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in El Paso. The game has also been moved up one day to Friday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m. MT/11
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EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Children’s Hospital is one of 10 children’s hospitals in the nation to receive a high-level sterilization machine meant to protect against the coronavirus. “So this piece of UV equipment allows us to have an extra level of disinfection,” said Kristine Tejeda, education manager at El Paso Children’s Hospital.
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso hospitals have found success in their strategy of flying dozens of ICU patients to medical facilities outside of the Borderland as a means of freeing up more space during the ongoing surge of incoming Covid-19 patients. However, a handful of local families had found themselves facing a stressful situation,
Continue Reading LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Doña Ana County tied a pandemic record with seven more coronavirus deaths reported Tuesday, which was half of the 14 added deaths occurring across all of New Mexico. The last time the county saw that many Covid-19 deaths was five days ago on Nov. 5. Health officials said Tuesday’s additional
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EL PASO, Texas — The Cielo Vista Walmart, scene of the Aug. 3 shooting massacre, is the latest of the retail giant’s El Paso stores to be abruptly closed for deep cleaning because of concerns about the surge of Covid-19 in the Borderland. A Walmart spokesperson said the store at 7101 Gateway Blvd. W. was
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SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — A federal judge on Tuesday denied issuing an emergency order sought by a southern New Mexico meat processing plant seeking to immediately halt a closure directive from state officials due to an outbreak of coronavirus at the facility. Stampede Meat, at 5700 McNutt Road on Sunland Park/Santa Teresa border, filed
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Coronavirus hospitalizations reached an all-time in El Paso on Tuesday. The Department of Public Health reports there are 1,076 Covid-19 patients receiving treatment in El Paso’s hospitals. There are also 319 patients in the ICU, which is also a record. The health department also reported nine new coronavirus-related deaths, along
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — City leaders revealed new details about their long-term strategies to address the pandemic during a marathon City Council meeting Monday. One project they hope will help is the acquisition of new properties to house Covid-19 response efforts. “Property acquisition is critical to the long term response to Covid-19,” said El
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