2 new El Paso virus deaths occur along with biggest case spike yet

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso health officials reported the biggest spike in coronavirus cases of the pandemic thus far, with 86 new infections Friday night along with two additional deaths.

That raised the county's total number of confirmed cases to 1,276 and the death toll to 32. As of Friday night, there had now been nine deaths within a 48-hour period.

The latest pair of fatalities involved men in their 60s, said City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza, who called it "another heartbreaking day for our community."

He also warned that the "considerable increase in positive Covid-19 cases" El Paso is seeing "will continue to go up if residents do not take this pandemic seriously."

Fearing that Mother's Day could fuel the surging caseload, local religious, medical and political leaders all urged El Pasoans to avoid social gatherings to celebrate - despite the temptation to do so.

Along with the surge in cases Friday night came a big jump in hospitalizations too.

There were now 83 El Pasoans hospitalized, with 47 of those patients listed in intensive care and 22 people on ventilators. All three of those numbers were at their highest mark since the pandemic began.

Officials said more than 11,800 tests had been performed, meaning that roughly 11% of those getting tested are coming back as positive for the virus.

Below is the latest coronavirus case locator map and other demographic information on the virus outbreak as provided by the health department.

The map shows the amount of positive cases by zip codes, with the number of cases in red dots: 79821 (3), 79835 (37), 79836 (9), 79838 (13), 79849 (23), 79853 (23), 79901 (9), 79902 (14), 79903 (44), 79904 (38), 79905 (64), 79907 (62), 79911 (7), 79912 (91), 79915 (55), 79922 (5), 79924 (64), 79925 (53), 79927 (73), 79928 (89), 79930 (36), 79932 (54), 79934 (31), 79935 (31), 79936 (164), 79938 (184).