El Paso reports 4 new virus deaths as toll nears 100 amid questions about testing

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Department of Public health reported four new coronavirus deaths and 68 new cases on Thursday amid questions about testing levels in the community.

One of the latest victims was a woman in her 60s with no health conditions, officials said. The other three victims were men, with one in his 30s, one in his 40s and another in his 60s, who all had underlying health issues.

The man in his 30s was the second youngest of the 97 deaths to occur in El Paso County since the pandemic began.

It was not immediately clear if the death of Leo Soria, father of El Paso Community College trustee Bonnie Soria Najera, was accounted for in Thursday's official fatality count. Soria's daughter said he died at a local hospital on Wednesday, when officials had reported a decline in hospitalizations but no deaths.

There have now been 3,650 confirmed virus cases, with 2,538 recoveries. That means there were 1,015 active cases as of Thursday.

Currently, there are 81 virus patients in the hospital, with 54 are in the ICU (a decrease of four from Wednesday), and 27 of those patients are on ventilators.

For a detailed look at the latest coronavirus data from the health department, click here.

Here's a look at where you can get tested. Officials have estimated over 44,300 tests have occurred to date and earlier this week said El Paso had reached a milestone goal of testing 5% of the population.

However, officials are now acknowledging some people are getting counted twice in those testing numbers.