Harlingen girl among the 7 COVID-19 deaths reported in the Valley

The Rio Grande Valley lost seven more residents to COVID-19, including a young girl from Harlingen, according to news releases from the region’s largest counties.

Two more people died due to COVID-19 in Hidalgo County as 91 new cases were reported Tuesday along with hospitalization data that reflects a decline in activity as vaccination efforts continue.

A man and woman in their 70s and 50s, respectively, from undisclosed locations in the county died due to the coronavirus, bringing the county’s toll to 3,436 COVID-19 deaths. Both were unvaccinated.

Of the 91cases, five were reported confirmed while 43 were probable and as many suspected. This raises the county’s case tally to 117,463. Of the overall cases since the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, 68,396 have been confirmed, 46,226 were probable and 2,841 were suspected.

Seven more students also tested positive, as did two staff members of local schools. In total, there have been 3,211 students who have tested positive and 664 staff members, at least since the county began tracking this data in August.

Younger people, specifically people in their 20s and under, continue to represent the majority of new cases in the county, with 53 of the new cases reported Tuesday belonging to that age group. Of the 53, children 11 and younger make up 33 of those cases.

Eighty people remain hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, down from the 88 reported the day before. Seventy of them are adults and 10 are pediatric patients.

There are 43 people in the ICU with COVID-19, four of whom are pediatric patients.

The county also reported that 169 people were released from isolation as of Tuesday, and there are currently 716 active cases locally.

Cameron County added 27 more cases, according to a news release Tuesday, totaling 53,244 since the onset of the pandemic.

Five more people also died due to COVID-19 in Cameron, four of whom were unvaccinated. Those who died include three Brownsville residents, women in their 20s and 70s and a man in his 60s, while a man in his 60s died in Harlingen.

A Harlingen girl under the age of 10 also died due to COVID-19. The county’s death toll now stands at 1,968.