Hidalgo County announced Tuesday afternoon that county Judge Richard F. Cortez tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day, the second time he has contracted the coronavirus.
Cortez first tested positive for the virus on Dec. 10, 2020.
“I was feeling a little under the weather and a routine COVID test came back positive,” Cortez said in a news release. “This is a reminder that everyone should get tested if they experience even mild symptoms.”
Cortez, who is fully vaccinated, has already begun isolating himself at his home.
The news about Cortez came hours after the county reported one COVID-19 related death and 248 new cases of the virus Tuesday morning.
A McAllen woman in her 60s died of COVID-19 related issues. According to the county, the woman was vaccinated. Her death raised the county’s total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 3,585.
The new cases include 147 confirmed and 101 probable cases. The county has had a total of 129,400 positive cases, including 74,271 confirmed, 51,923 probable and 3,206 suspected cases.
The county also reported 842 new cases among students and 101 new cases among staff in county schools. There have been a total of 9,308 cases among students and 2,520 among staff since the county began keeping track of COVID activity in schools in August 2021.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 391 people in county hospitals with COVID-19 related issues, including 346 adults and 45 children. There were 89 people in intensive care units, including 86 adults and three children.
There were an additional 220 people released from isolation Tuesday, raising that total to 125,203. There are 612 net active cases in the county.
Hidalgo County has administered a total of 770,173 COVID-19 tests, and 640,110 of those tests had negative results.
