Coronavirus cases surpass 2,000 in El Paso County with 3 new deaths

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Department of Public Health released new data on Thursday morning which showed three more people have died from Covid-19 in El Paso County, and the total number of cases now stands at 2,046.

The death toll from the virus has reached 57. There are also 116 new cases, which is the second-largest daily increase El Paso has seen since the pandemic began.

The latest deaths involve a woman in her 40s, along with men in their their 60s and 70s, health officials said.

Hospitalizations remained the same at 109, but the number of patients in intensive care rose by four to 56. Eighteen patients are on ventilators.

More than 1,100 El Pasoans have now recovered, which means there are 883 active cases.

El Paso's health authority, Dr. Hector Ocaranza, said he attributes the recent spike in cases to people gathering over Mother's Day weekend.

“I wish to express my deepest sorrow to the families of these three community members. We continue to be saddened by the ongoing loss of life,” Dr. Ocaranza said in a statement. “This weeks deaths and today’s spike in positive cases have an apparent connection to Mother’s Day weekend, which is why we are sincerely concerned about what Memorial Day weekend might bring about if the community continues to disregard the advice we share nearly every day.”

El Paso health leaders said they will now be releasing new virus data in the mornings; they used to wait until evening. Officials said the map that shows the number of infections per zip code, and all the demographic information, will be typically be released in the afternoons.

You can see all of the latest numbers released by the Department of Public Health here.