3 more El Paso virus deaths as new cases, hospitalizations are up

EL PASO, Texas -- The deaths of three men, two in their 60s and one in his 80s, took El Paso County's coronavirus fatality count to 487 on Saturday.

Meantime, both newly reported cases and hospitalizations were on the rise to close out the week ending Saturday.

New weekly infections totaled 676, which is the highest it's been in a few weeks, while hospitalizations since Labor Day were up 34%.

On Saturday, local health officials announced 126 new Covid-19 cases, along with 24 other cases that stem from weeks-old test results just now being reported by the state.

The on-going reporting of delayed cases in El Paso and other parts of Texas has resulted in questions about the accuracy of virus positivity rates and has led to state officials changing the method of calculating data relied upon to spot emerging infection trends.

As of Saturday, El Paso's pandemic total of virus cases grew to 22,329, with health leaders saying 2,905 of those cases are currently active and 18,823 are listed as recoveries.

There were also 138 patients hospitalized on Saturday morning due to the virus, with 51 of those listed in intensive care and 25 requiring the use of ventilators.

The El Paso health department's complete Covid-19 data can be found at epstrong.org.