El Paso sees no new virus deaths for 1st time in weeks, marking milestone moment

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso County's coronavirus death toll held steady Sunday morning as health officials reported no new fatalities.

It marked a milestone moment, the first day in over a month in which the health department didn't add to the death count.

Deaths among El Pasoans had been recorded for 33 straight days, since July 19. The number of lives claimed by the Covid-19 pandemic remained just ten deaths shy of 400 at 390 as of Sunday.

The local health department reported 70 new cases on Sunday along with 10 "delayed" positive test results.

The delayed results are tied to private labs previously contracted at state-run testing facilities. Those delayed results have been an issue not only in El Paso, but for other areas of the state too.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week had predicted that the state's reporting backlog on weeks-old virus cases would soon be resolved. But since then, "delayed" cases have continued to be reported, leaving questions remaining about reporting accuracy from the state.

As of Sunday, there were just over 19,000 confirmed total virus cases to date in El Paso County.

Health officials indicated that 3,272 of those are currently considered active cases; 15,734 are listed as recovered - although experts caution that some recovered persons may experience ongoing health issues stemming from having been infected.

As of Sunday morning, there were 136 hospitalizations in El Paso due to Covid-19 illnesses, with 50 of those patients listed in intensive care and 27 needing ventilators.

For a complete look at El Paso's Covid-19 data provided by the local health department, click here.