1 new virus death in El Paso; county about to top 16,000 confirmed cases

EL PASO, Texas - Public health officials announced Friday morning that one additional person had died from Covid-19 in El Paso County, marking a record for deadly days due to the coronavirus.

El Paso officials have reported one or more virus deaths for 19 consecutive days, which is the longest stretch the county has experienced during the pandemic.

The last day officials did not announce a new virus-related death was July 19.

The latest victim tallied Friday was a man in his 80's with underlying health conditions, bringing El Paso's cumulative death toll to 286.

Officials also reported 312 new cases, bringing the total to 15,908.

They said 103 more people recovered. There have been 11,669 recoveries to date, although experts say some people will still experience long-term health consequences from having been infected.

That leaves El Paso with 3,953 known active cases, and that number has been rising for more than a week. The county is getting is near the record high set on July 21, when there were 4,037 cases that were considered active.

El Paso officials said hospitalizations due to the virus decreased to 234 patients, with 85 of them are in the intensive care unit and 33 needing ventilators.

Also notable, the rolling 7-day average positivitiy rate - which is the percentage of those people tested who are positive - is currently 11.83%. That's the highest it's been since July 25 when it stood at 11.91%.