Half-dozen more virus deaths as El Paso hospitalizations top 1,100 again with ICU record tied

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso health officials reported a half-dozen more coronavirus deaths and 1,002 added infections on Sunday, as hospitalizations once again topped the 1,100 mark.

The latest confirmed virus deaths involved a man in his 40s, a woman in her 60s, three men in their 60s, and a woman in her 80s. That brought the total number of deaths to date to 762; separately, 397 deaths that are believed to be Covid-related are currently under investigation.

"Over the past two weeks, El Paso has averaged more than 23 Covid-19 deaths per day. That’s how many people were killed in the Aug. 3, 2019, white supremacist terror attack in El Paso. Covid-19 has been taking a similar number of lives each day for two weeks," observed El Paso Matters CEO Bob Moore.

There were 981 new cases with 121 delayed positives noted Sunday, bringing the number of active infections currently to 32,687. The rolling 7-day positivity average stands at 17.69%; the CDC recommends a rate of less than 10% positive tests for a community to reopen.

Hospitalizations were up a bit to 1,105 as of Sunday morning, with a record-tying 319 of those patients listed in intensive care and 216 requiring the use of ventilators.

The cumulative total of cases throughout the pandemic has reached 73,340, with health officials listing 39,472 recoveries. However, doctors have cautioned that some recovered people will still face long-term health impacts from having been infected.

"More than one in every 20 El Pasoans has tested positive since the beginning of October," Moore noted.

The data also shows 12% of cumulative infections in El Paso County have been asymptomatic, meaning those cases involved no symptoms but the people diagnosed could still spread the virus.

Complete local health department Covid-19 data can be found at EPStrong.org.