Nearly 1,000 new El Paso virus cases for week, record hospitalizations; death toll grows to 127

EL PASO, Texas -- As the week drew to a close on Saturday, El Paso had posted nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases in that span, set a record for hospitalizations and saw its death toll grow to 127.

Newly released health department data Saturday morning reflected 113 new daily cases and one additional death. The latest fatality was a man in his 90s with underlying health conditions.

Saturday marked the fifth straight day of triple-digit case increases and capped a week that also saw El Paso's largest single-day case spike of 223 on Friday.

The cumulative infection tally reached 5,330, of which 990 of those cases - accounting for 18% of the overall total - had been reported over the past seven days.

The nearly 1,000 additional cases was 67 percent more than El Paso County had experienced in any prior week of the pandemic. People in their 20s and 30s made up just over half of this week's record-shattering caseload.

Hospitalizations reached a record high on Saturday at 121. The data showed about half of those patients (63) were listed in intensive care with 21 needing ventilators.

To date, health officials indicated 3,613 El Pasoans had recovered from the virus.