Eleven more Rio Grande Valley residents died due to complications related to COVID-19, county officials confirmed this week while also reporting more than 3,000 new cases.
These deaths were between Hidalgo and Cameron counties and two were not fully vaccinated, according to reports issued from each of their respective health departments.
Hidalgo County reported eight COVID-related deaths this week. Four of the deceased individuals were unvaccinated. Their deaths raise the county’s total number of COVID-related deaths to 3,984.
The county also reported 1,902 new cases this week including 739 confirmed cases and 1,163 probable cases this week.
There have now been a total of 228,937 recorded cases of COVID in the county including 144,919 confirmed, 80,859 probable and 3,159 suspected cases.
Additionally, there were 270 new cases among school staff and 844 new cases among students this week.
Cameron County health officials reported three residents died due to COVID including one individual who was fully vaccinated and two who were not.
The county now has a total of 2,291 COVID-related deaths.
There were also 1,299 new cases of COVID in Cameron County this week including 463 confirmed, 829 probable cases and seven self-reported cases.
As far as hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients, the most up to date data for the entire Rio Grande Valley is no longer available due to changes in how the Texas Department of State Health Services releases that information.
Instead of being readily available on their website, hospitalization data files are now only available by request from DSHS.
The file obtained by The Monitor only contained COVID hospitalization data up to Monday.
On that day, there were a total of 134 hospitalizations across the Valley including 102 adults, 18 adults in intensive care units, and 14 pediatric patients.
The 134 patients on Monday represented an 8% decrease from the 147 patients reported the week prior, and it was a 15% increase from the beginning of August.
Because of the limited data, it’s unclear how hospitalizations changed over the course of the week for the entire Valley.
However, Hidalgo County reported that in hospitals within the county there were a total of 107 patients with COVID-19 at the beginning of the week, and that number remained the same by the end of the week.
The 107 patients that the county reported Friday included 78 adults, of which 10 were in the ICU, and 29 pediatric patients of which three were in the ICU.
