The entire Rio Grande Valley is now at a high risk of COVID-19 transmission as hospitalizations continue to rise.
This week all four Valley counties — Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, and Willacy — were at a high COVID-19 community level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC assigns either a low, medium or high community level to counties throughout the U.S. based on each county’s risk of spreading COVID-19. The community level for each county is determined by hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the number of new COVID-19 cases in the area over the last seven days.
The high community level assigned to the Valley is likely due to continuing increase in hospitalizations.
As of Friday, there were 150 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 throughout the Valley which was a more than 5% increase from the 142 patients hospitalized Monday and a 16% increase from the 129 people hospitalized a week prior.
Hidalgo County officials reported 97 people were hospitalized for COVID within the county Friday. Of those 97, 80 were adults and 17 were pediatric patients. Sixteen adults and three pediatric patients were in intensive care units.
This week, county officials also reported another five residents died due to COVID-19. Three of those deceased residents were vaccinated against COVID.
The county now has a total of 3,935 recorded fatalities due to COVID-related complications.
Additionally, Hidalgo County reported 2,523 new cases this week including 1,443 confirmed and 1,080 probable cases. As of this week, the county now has a total of 214,966 cases. That includes 137,641 confirmed cases, 74,166 probable cases, and 3,159 suspected cases.
In Cameron County, there were an additional five COVID-related deaths reported this week including the death of a San Benito child between 0 and 9 years of age. Of the five individuals, three were unvaccinated.
Their deaths raise the county’s total number of COVID-related deaths to 2,264.
Cameron County health officials also reported 2,066 new cases this week including 907 confirmed cases, 1,125 probable cases, and 34 self-reported cases from at-home tests.
Starr County reported 87 confirmed cases this week and 109 probable cases, according to DSHS data.
Meanwhile, Willacy County reported 41 confirmed cases and 23 probable cases this week.
