El Paso sees 2 new virus deaths along with 145 additional cases reported

EL PASO, Texas -- The El Paso Department of Public Health reported two more coronavirus deaths Saturday morning to take the county's pandemic death toll to 417.

The latest victims were both women, one in her 50s and the other in her 60s. El Paso has reported new Covid-19 deaths every day, with the exception of one, since July 19.

El Paso health officials on Saturday also announced 123 new virus cases as well as 22 "delayed" positive test results, for a total of 145 additional infections being added to El Paso's pandemic case count — which reached 20,217.

Local officials said these "delayed" results come from state-run testing sites in El Paso and are weeks-old. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently said the issues that caused the test result backlogs had been resolved, but a week and a half later there remains old case results still being reported for El Paso on a regular basis.

Health leaders on Saturday indicated that 83 percent of those infected to date had recovered from the virus — however as ABC-7 has reported, months after recovering some El Pasoans still deal with lingering health impacts.

"Even though the virus is all gone, the damages from this virus can be long lasting," explained Dr. Armando Meza, the chief of infectious diseases for Texas Teach Health Sciences University.

As of Saturday, the number of active Covid-19 cases remained below 3,000 for a second-straight day at 2,928. The active case count hasn't been this low since early July.

Hospitilizations dropped by just one to 139 patients on Saturday morning; 51 were listed in intensive care with 27 needing ventilators — both of those numbers declined by one apiece also from Friday.

El Paso's 20,000+ infections and over 400 deaths to date have contributed to Texas' reported totals of 601,768 cases and 12,266 deaths as of Saturday morning.

For a complete look at El Paso's Covid-19 data, click here.