5 more virus fatalities in El Paso as the death toll spikes to 41
EL PASO, Texas -- The death toll from the coronavirus continues to rise in El Paso, with health officials reporting five new deaths on Wednesday night, jumping the total number of fatalities across the county to 41.
Officials also announced 43 new cases, bringing the county’s caseload to date to 1,456.
“It is with a heavy heart that we are once again reporting a spike in Covid-19 deaths with the loss of five members of our community," said City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza.
The latest deaths were two women in their 40s and a man in his 50s, along with two women and a man all in their 70s.
“One of the trends that we are seeing is that Covid-19 is gravely affecting those who are diabetic, have high blood pressure and/or have heart disease," Ocaranza said, noting that the five new victims all had pre-existing health issues.
Some of the newly-deceased had been in local hospitals as El Paso's hospitalizations declined a bit from 80 to 73. At least 35 of those patients were in the ICU on Wednesday night, with 16 requiring ventilators.
Health leaders indicated 751 people to date had recovered from the virus, meaning there were 664 active cases within the county on Wednesday night.
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 (6), 79835 (46), 79836 (10), 79838 (15), 79849 (26), 79853 (24), 79901 (16), 79902 (18), 79903 (47), 79904 (44), 79905 (60), 79907 (79), 79911 (8), 79912 (103), 79915 (67), 79922 (7), 79924 (76), 79925 (62), 79927 (84), 79928 (105), 79930 (45), 79932 (57), 79934 (33), 79935 (32), 79936 (182), 79938 (204).
