There were 15 more deaths due to COVID-19 related complications and 632 new cases reported in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday.
In Hidalgo County, there were 12 more COVID-19 related deaths and 276 new cases, which continue to be led by individuals under 20 years old, according to a news release issued by the county Tuesday.
The additional deaths raise the total number of COVID-related fatalities in the county to 3,150 while the total number of cases are now up to 109,535 since the start of the pandemic.
Currently, 3,154 cases are considered active.
Sixty percent of the new cases reported Tuesday, or 166 out of the 276, were of individuals between 0 and 19 years old, which is likely attributable to the return of in-person instruction at schools.
One school staff member and 42 students tested positive for COVID-19, the county reported Tuesday. There are now a total of 337 staff members and 952 students that have tested positive since the county began tracking those figures on Aug. 18.
In Cameron County, there were three more COVID-related deaths which raises the total number of deaths there to 1,796, county health officials reported Tuesday.
They also reported another 356 cases which raise the total cases to 50,296.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are currently on a two-week downward trend, though they still remain higher than they did at the beginning of August.
As of Monday, there were a total of 545 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Rio Grande Valley which is up from the 528 reported the previous day, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services posted on Tuesday.
Still the number of individuals admitted due to COVID appears to be trending down from the peak of 722 hospitalizations reported on July 20.
Of those hospitalizations across the Valley, 325 were general adult patients, 209 were adults being treated in intensive care units, and 11 were pediatric patients.
In Hidalgo County, alone, there are 376 COVID-19 hospitalizations including 358 adults and 18 pediatric patients, an improvement from the 391 total hospitalizations in the county reported on Friday.
Of the 376 patients, 149 are being treated in intensive care units. Ten of them are pediatric patients.
The situation also appears to be improving when it comes to capacity with 18 adult ICU beds reported available on Tuesday. Though down from the 23 reported available the previous day, it is nonetheless an improvement from the five that were reported available on Friday.
On the other hand, there were a limited number of pediatric ICU beds.
Only three pediatric beds were available on Monday, according to DSHS, and though, last week, there were zero such beds available, the number is down from the eight pediatric ICU beds that were available the previous day.
