EL PASO, Texas — The rate at which El Pasoans are testing positive for the coronavirus has soared since the July Fourth holiday weekend period, the Borderland’s top doctor said Monday. City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza shared the news of the disturbing trend at a meeting of El Paso County Commissioners Court. Ocaranza indicated
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health reported one new coronavirus-related death and 206 new cases Monday morning. The latest victim was identified as a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions. The death toll now stands at 152 in El Paso County. Monday marked the first time El
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UPDATE# 2: The New Mexico Environment Department has now clarified that a Las Cruces Walmart store which had a coronavirus outbreak has been allowed to reopen Sunday after the store was disinfected and the company brought in workers from other locations to staff it. Walmart’s corporate office said it was testing all employees who worked
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UPDATE: Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare facilities in El Paso continued to divert some patients on Sunday as the hospital group dealt with an ongoing surge in coronavirus patients needing care. A spokesperson provided the following update in a statement to ABC-7 late Sunday afternoon about the unfolding situation… “Our current Covid census is placing
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HATCH, New Mexico — The coronavirus pandemic has canceled yet another beloved New Mexico annual event: the 2020 Hatch Chile Festival. Organizers have officially announced that Covid-19 has forced the cancellation of the event for the first time in its 49-year-old history. The fiesta is held annually over Labor Day weekend in Hatch — the
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — State health officials on Sunday reported two more coronavirus deaths and 262 new confirmed cases. The additional deaths increased the statewide death toll to 544 while the number of confirmed cases pushed past 15,000. The number of recoveries to date were 6,322 out of the 15,028 New Mexicans who have
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso’s County’s top doctor declared Sunday morning that the coronavirus is “spreading like wildfire” as he announced record-setting daily numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and patients listed in intensive care. Those skyrocketing numbers blamed on “community spread” included 411 new cases, the first time El Paso has topped the 400
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AUSTIN, Texas — The coronavirus continues to cut its record-setting swath through Texas as state officials reported a record 10,351 new cases for the day Saturday. That brought the total cases of Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, to just over a quarter-million dating to the start of tracking in early March. The true
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — An Otero County woman was among four new coronavirus deaths in New Mexico on Saturday as the state’s death toll rose to 543. The woman in her 80s had been hospitalized with underlying conditions health officials said. It was the ninth virus death to occur in Otero County since the
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — El Paso public health officials reported 353 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, racking up a weekly total of more than 2,100 and a cumulative count that now exceeds 9,000 throughout the pandemic. There were no new deaths reported, so the fatality count remained at 150, but there were 15 deaths tallied
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — On Friday, Texas surpassed 10,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients for the first time, capping a week of grim markers that also saw the state exceed 10,000 new cases in a single day. And it has been the deadliest week of the pandemic in Texas, with 95 new deaths reported Friday. With urgent calls for field
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EL PASO, Texas — The director for Sun Metro, El Paso’s mass transportation agency, says bus drivers should tell riders they either need to be wearing a mask before boarding a bus, or not board the bus at all. Furthermore, director Ellen Smyth says the driver should also be wearing a mask. But ABC 7’s Saul Saenz
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LUBBOCK, Texas — With Texas continuing to break records for new coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations this week, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated Friday afternoon that things will continue to get worse. And if people keep flouting his new statewide mask mandate, he said, the next step could be another economic lockdown. “Things will get worse, and let me explain
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — An Otero County Prison inmate’s death was one six new coronavirus deaths reported in New Mexico on Friday, state health officials said. The death of the 70-year-old man who had been hospitalized was the eighth occurring in Otero County since the start of the pandemic; the majority of the county’s
Continue Reading CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Corpus Christi city councilman said he was notified Friday by the local health district of a Covid-19 related death of a six-week-old infant. “My deepest condolences go out to the family,” said Councilman Ben Molina in a social media post. Health officials told ABC affiliate KIII-TV that the death of
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health announced five new deaths, and 361 new cases on Friday. The death toll now stands 150. The health department identified the latest victims as three men, one each in their 40s, 60s and 70s. The other two were women in their 80s. All
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called it “a tough pill to swallow for many New Mexicans” as she rolled back the state’s re-opening because of a significant uptick in coronavirus spread. Lujan Grisham announced the below-listed measures on Thursday, citing accelerating rates of infection across large expanses of the state including
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — The Big Ten Conference won’t play non-conference games in football or other sports this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league made the announcement on Thursday citing medical advice, but also added the caveat that that’s only “if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports.” The announcement
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EL PASO, Texas– Covid-19 has changed the way life and work operate on a daily basis. The El Paso Police Department is no different, nor immune to the challenges brought on by the coronavirus. On Thursday, officials told ABC-7 that five of their recruits in the police academy, as well as six training officers there
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Worsening coronavirus trends in Texas again set another grim milestone Thursday as the state reported more than 100 deaths in a single day for the first time, making this the deadliest week of the pandemic in what has rapidly become one of America’s virus hot zones. In addition to 105 new deaths,
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EL PASO, Texas — It seems a cloud of smoke has been covering the start of this year’s high school football season in El Paso. On Thursday morning, an order from the local Health Authority may have cleared that up. The order directed at public and private schools in El Paso County specifically states that
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The City/County Health Authority of El Paso issued a new order Thursday that delays the start of in-person classes for all schools in the county until after Sept. 7. El Paso’s Health Authority, along with city and county leaders, met with school superintendents earlier this week to discuss the change.
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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. Here’s the Q&A for Thursday, July
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When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that malls in New York could not reopen until they installed high-efficiency particulate air filters capable of trapping the virus that causes Covid-19, Harvard environmental health researcher Joseph Gardner Allen was thrilled. “I’ve been writing consistently since early February about how healthy buildings should be the
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Department of Public Health announced one new coronavirus death and 350 new cases Thursday morning. It’s the second day in a row that El Paso County has reported more than 300 cases. The county set a record Wednesday with 393 cases. The health department identified the victim
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Nationwide, businesses have had to learn to adapt to life during the pandemic. It can be a particular adjustment for salons, where workers are spaced physically close to their clients. Salons in Texas were allowed to reopen in May. Since then, local owners tell ABC-7 the adjustments have gotten easier.
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas reported its deadliest day of the pandemic with nearly 100 new deaths on Wednesday as newly confirmed cases continued soaring and Austin began preparations to turn the downtown convention center into a field hospital. The 98 reported deaths in Texas set a record one-day high, surpassing the record 60 deaths reported
Continue Reading LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A man in his 80s from from Doña Ana County who had been hospitalized with Covid-19 was among eight new virus deaths statewide on Wednesday, health officials said. That raised the virus death toll in Doña Ana County to eleven, while New Mexico’s fatality tally went to 527. State health
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — It will be up to the New Mexico Supreme Court to decide what authority the state has to enforce certain provisions of the public health orders that have stemmed from the coronavirus pandemic. Arguments will be presented during an Aug. 4 remote hearing. About a dozen business owners and companies sued the
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso County recorded 393 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday morning, the highest single-day infection increase since the pandemic began. The El Paso Department of Public Health also announced five new virus deaths. The death toll now stands at 144. Officials said all but one of the victims had underlying
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