‘I’m hoping the numbers will continue to drop’: Weekly check-in with UMC’s Dr. Jose Burgos

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- In an effort to deliver the most comprehensive coronavirus coverage, ABC-7 has started a weekly feature where we ask Dr. Jose Burgos, the director of internal medicine at University Medical Center, the same seven questions each week to track how the pandemic is changing.

Here's the Q&A for Friday, August 13:

Mauricio Casillas (KVIA): How has this past week gone for you?

Dr. Jose Burgos (UMC’s Director of Internal Medicine): "We had a really good week. The numbers are going down. We're discharging more people from the hospital. We're seeing less numbers of patients getting infected so good job to everybody in El Paso."

Casillas: Can hospitals handle the current number of patients?

Burgos: "Even at what was our peak, we could take care of these patients. So, we can definitely continue to do so."

Casillas: What should people at home be doing right now?

Burgos: "If you're mildly ill with a respiratory illness, even if you think it's just a common cold, that's fine -- but because of the Covid era -- go get yourself checked. The highest chance to get you well, and make sure you don't have complications from this condition, comes when you're treated early."

Casillas: What is the most eye-opening thing you’ve seen this week?

Burgos: "To see how people are fighting. It's not only a fight that we have at the hospital. This physical and psychological fight that every patient is fighting everywhere and the fact that we're witnessing that, that we're seeing that up close is really encouraging. It's really nice to see how people are just holding on and fighting back and staying positive; doing what they have to do so they can overcome this condition."

Casillas: What is your prediction for next week?

Burgos: "I want to be positive, but I can only be positive if everybody in town is doing what they're supposed to do, so I'm hoping the numbers will continue to drop."

Casillas: What is giving you hope at this time?

Burgos: "The fact that the community keeps working in order to find newer and better medications. The race for the vaccine, all of those things, they just definitely give me hope that we are going to be able to control this at some point."

Casillas: What is your message to the Borderland?

Burgos: "Please let's go and donate. We need plasma from people who have recovered from the infection. We need plasma and blood products from anybody else because our reserves are pretty low overall."

Statistics for August 13:

• 17,378 total cases, 4166 active cases, 330 deaths in El Paso County

Here's a list of earlier segments:

• April 9 Q&A: (225 cases , 1 death)
• April 16 Q&A: (451 cases, 7 deaths)
• April 23 Q&A: (675 total cases, 543 active cases, 10 deaths)
• April 30 Q&A: (924 total cases, 506 active cases, 21 deaths)
• May 7 Q&A: (1,190 total cases, 541 active cases, 30 deaths)
• May 14 Q&A: (1,607 total cases, 771 active cases, 43 deaths)
• May 21 Q&A: (2,046 total cases, 883 active cases, 57 deaths)
• May 28 Q&A: (2,569 total cases, 1,032 active cases, 72 deaths)
• June 4 Q&A: (3,069 total cases, 1,059 active cases, 89 deaths)
• June 11 Q&A: (3,650 total cases, 1,015 active cases, 97 deaths)
• June 18 Q&A: (4,088 total cases, 946 active cases, 119 deaths)
• June 25 Q&A: (4,984 total cases, 1394 active cases, 125 deaths)
• July 2 Q&A: (6,389 total cases, 2,223 active cases, 132 deaths)
• July 9 Q&A: (8,385 total cases, 3,085 active cases, 145 deaths)
• July 16 Q&A: (10,638 total cases, 3,708 active cases, 173 deaths)
• July 23 Q&A: (12,501 total cases, 3,564 active cases, 211 deaths)
• July 31 Q&A: (14,276 total cases, 3,311 active cases, 266 deaths)
• August 6: (15,596 total cases, 3,747 active cases, 285 deaths)