COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Rio Grande Valley sharply increased this week, jumping by 25% by the end of the week.
As of Friday, there were a total of 129 people hospitalized due to COVID-19. That was a 25% increase from the 103 patients reported on Monday which was lower than the peak of 121 hospitalizations reached last week. However, as the week progressed hospitalizations immediately jumped the next day to 119, growing to 120 on Wednesday, increasing to 124 on Thursday, and then increasing again to 129 on Friday.
The rise this week is only a continuation of the recent trend in rising hospitalizations due to COVID that began mid-May.
On May 17, COVID hospitalizations reached a low of 26 patients throughout the entire Valley. Since then, hospitalizations have increased by 396%.
In Hidalgo County, there were 72 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday but that increased to 92 as of Friday. The 92 people hospitalized due to COVID included 67 adults and 25 pediatric patients.
Three additional Hidalgo County residents died due to COVID-related complications, the county reported this week. Two of those individuals were not vaccinated.
So far, the county has reported a total of 3,930 residents have died due to COVID.
Also this week, Hidalgo County reported a total of 2,097 new cases including 1,273 confirmed cases and 824 probable cases.
The county now has a total of 212,443 recorded cases of COVID-19 which include 136,198 confirmed cases and 73,086 probable cases.
In Cameron County, there were 1,976 new cases this week including 853 confirmed cases, 1,079 probable cases, and 44 self-reported cases from at-home tests.
There were also five COVID-related deaths this week, according to Cameron County health officials. At least three of those individuals were not vaccinated against COVID-19.
The county has now reported a total of 2,259 COVID-related deaths.
