The number of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 throughout the Rio Grande Valley has decreased in recent days to levels not seen since before the surge in hospitalizations that occurred in July 2020.
As of May 24, there were 135 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19, a 4.9% decrease from a week prior and a 27% decrease from two weeks prior on May 10 when there were 185 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19, according to data collected from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The last time there were 135 patients or less was on June 15, 2020, when there were 122 COVID-19 patients. The following day, on June 16, 2020, hospitalizations jumped to 164.
As COVID-19 hospitalizations continue decreasing, the number of new cases and COVID-19 related deaths in the Valley remain relatively low.
There were four deaths across the Valley and 177 new cases reported Tuesday.
Three of those deaths were of Hidalgo County residents, a Donna man in his 40s and two women over 70 from Mission and Pharr.
Their deaths raise the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in the county to 2,870 since the start of the pandemic.
There were also 162 residents who tested positive, according to a news release county officials issued Tuesday.
Of the 162 new cases, 74 are confirmed, 59 are probable and 29 are suspected.
This brings the total number of cases in Hidalgo County to 90,959 cases. Of those, 59,630 were confirmed cases, 29,337 were probable and 1,992 were suspected.
Currently, there are 752 active cases.
Additionally, the county reported 96 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and, of those, 29 patients were being treated in an intensive care unit.
Cameron County health officials reported one COVID-19 related death on Tuesday, that of a San Benito man in his 80s, and 15 new confirmed cases.
In total, they’ve had 41,139 cases and 1,653 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. There are currently 2,528 active cases in Cameron.
Looking at the seven-day increase in cases, there was an increase of 911 cases this week throughout Public Health Region 11, a 19-county region in South Texas that includes the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo and Corpus Christi.
The previous week, the seven-day increase was 727, according to Dr. Elizabeth Cuevas with DSHS Public Health Region 11.
“These numbers represent a significant decrease in seven-day increases from even January,” Cuevas said during a weekly news conference call held Tuesday morning. “Previous seven-day increases were around 6,000 and so we are seeing a significant decrease in transmission.”
Because of the decrease in deaths, Cuevas added that their four morgue trailers throughout the region, which aren’t currently in use, are set to be demobilized next month.
“We currently have four trailers deployed to our region and all four of those trailers are due to be demobilized in the next 10 days,” Cuevas said. “So the last trailer will be demobilized the first week of June but those are all on schedule to be demobilized, and that is very important because we’re not seeing this significant increase (in) deaths from COVID-19.”
