There are now 219 people with COVID-19 being treated in local hospitals in Hidalgo County, according to a news release Wednesday morning that also confirmed nearly 500 new cases of the virus and four deaths.
Of the 219 hospitalized, 24 are pediatric patients. Fifty-five people are also in intensive care units fighting COVID-19, six of whom are children.
The county confirmed 495 new cases Wednesday, of which 280 are confirmed and 215 probable. The majority of the cases stem from McAllen, Edinburg and Mission, and 102 of them are people in their 20s. Eighty-six cases are young people between 12 and 19 years old. There are also 90 people in their 30s who tested positive.
Hidalgo County’s current case tally is 126,755, with 1,633 net active cases as of Wednesday.
In local schools, 148 students and 41 staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
Four men in their 70s from Pharr, Mercedes, Donna and Weslaco died due to the virus; two were not vaccinated.
The death toll in the county is now at 3,541.
Earlier this week, Hidalgo County health officials said that as many as 18,000 new cases of COVID-19 were seen locally over a two-week period, which does not reflect daily case numbers from the county, and cited backlogging as an issue.
In Cameron County, cases also continue to rise at an alarming rate, with 958 cases reported as of Wednesday. While this is below the 1,000-mark seen in previous days, it’s in line with the higher activity seen since the holidays.
Of the new cases in Cameron, 448 have been confirmed with 510 probable.
Once again, the majority of new cases in the daily report are from Brownsville with 241. There were 103 in Harlingen and 32 in San Benito.
Cameron’s case tally is now at 58,883.
There were no new deaths reported in Cameron County on Wednesday, leaving the death toll there at 2,039.
