COVID-19 cases in the Rio Grande Valley are on the rise and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the level of coronavirus is high in three Rio Grande Valley counties.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases are high in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties. Coronavirus cases in Starr County are medium.
Dr. James Castillo, health authority for Cameron County, said although health officials are seeing an uptick in cases, hospitalizations are not overwhelming the hospital as in past surges.
Castillo said officials have not received any reports as to what type of variant is spreading but it “looks like we are just going through another spike, it’s probably one of the omicron subvariants as omicron involved so it’s more contagious. The effects of the vaccine kind of wear off with time. The hospital numbers are up but not in a terrible way.”
On Friday, Cameron County reported 250 new cases and one death. To date, there have been 76,281 positive cases and 170,414 negative cases. A total of 252,394 people have been tested and 68,087 recovered. There have been 2,250 deaths.
In Hidalgo County, 1,159 new cases were reported Friday -that included the reporting period from June 21 to June 23 – and there were two deaths. To date, there have been 208,032 positive cases and 1,064,502 negative cases. A total of 1,272,594 have been tested. There have been 3,924 fatalities.
In Willacy County, statistics indicate the county is averaging 11 new cases a day. There has been a total of 7,424 cases with 133 deaths.
Because community levels are high in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, the CDC recommends people wear facial coverings while indoors and public transportation regardless of vaccination status, consider avoiding non-essential activities where you might be exposed, have home test kits available, and stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.
Castillo said the cases are probably going up to because people have become more relaxed, and people have accepted the risk of catching coronavirus. He said those individuals who decided not to get vaccinated and are high risk, will likely contract COVID-19. “They are still running the same risk of getting extremely sick,” Castillo added.
“This is always going to come in waves. It is happening in other cities and it kind of followed that same pattern it was just a matter of time before it just happens,” he said.
For those people who have already received their vaccinations, Castillo urges them to get the booster shots to help prevent the chance of them getting very sick.
With the Fourth of July holiday coming up health officials anticipate the COVID-19 cases will increase because of gatherings that will be held to celebrate America’s birthday.
“It has gotten to the point where it has become part of life for us, I guess, and there is definitely going to be an increase in transmission, but I am hoping that we don’t see a further increase in hospitalizations or people dying,” he said. “Right now, the hospital numbers are up but they are not up to the point where they are getting overwhelmed.”
