As the Rio Grande Valley’s COVID-19 death toll rose to 19 Thursday evening, more cases were also reportedly removed from isolation.
Cameron County confirmed Thursday that two people there died from COVID-19, bumping the total to 14 deaths in the county. There have been four deaths in Hidalgo County and one in Willacy County.
The residents from Cameron County who died were an 81-year-old woman and a 92-year-old male from the Veranda Nursing Home in Harlingen, both were previously reported cases, according to a county news release.
“We continue to keep the families, residents and employees at the nursing homes in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. said in a press release. “Our most sincere condolences to them.”
Eleven more cases were also confirmed positive in Cameron County, specifically from Brownsville, Harlingen and San Benito. Three of these were transmitted through the community and the rest were linked to previous cases.
The total number for Cameron County is now 344, with 153 recovered.
Also, 23 people who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 in Hidalgo County were released from isolation, county Judge Richard F. Cortez announced in a news release Thursday night. Nine more people in Hidalgo County have also tested positive for COVID-19, bumping the total there to 290.
The ages of these new Hidalgo County cases range from an infant to people in their 80s, and come from Edinburg, Elsa, Mission, Mercedes, Donna and Pharr.
Twenty-four people are in area hospitals, with six of them in intensive care units.
As of now, the county has conducted 3,249 of COVID-19 testing, with 2,829 tests returning negative and 130 testspending.
