El Paso sees 15 new virus deaths, 543 added cases

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso health officials announced 15 new deaths and 543 additional cases stemming from Covid-19 on Saturday morning.

The latest victims included a woman in his 50s, three women and two men in their 60s, three men and two women in their 70s, two men and a woman in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s.

Those deaths raise the pandemic fatality count in El Paso County to 1,579.

There were 35,462 active virus cases as of Saturday, part of a total case count of 106,312 since March of last year. Officials said that 68,690 of those cases, or 64.6%, represented recoveries - although doctors caution that some recovered persons can still face long-term health issues as a result of having been infected.

Health officials indicated that 21% of El Paso's hospitalizations were currently Covid-related, which amounts to 451 patients and represented a slight decrease over the past day. Of those, 148 are listed in intensive care, with 98 requiring the use of ventilators.

Complete El Paso health department virus data can be found online at EPStrong.org.