Twelve more Rio Grande Valley residents died due to COVID-related complications while another 700 new cases were reported this week.
Nine Hidalgo County residents and three Cameron County residents died due to COVID-19, according to news releases from county health officials.
Of the nine Hidalgo County residents who reportedly died due to COVID-19, two were unvaccinated. Their deaths raise the county’s total number of COVID-related fatalities to 4,012.
The three Cameron County residents who died due to COVID-19 raised the county’s total number of deaths to 2,305. All three individuals were fully vaccinated.
Collectively, the two counties reported 727 new cases this week.
Hidalgo County reported 537 new cases this week, including 208 confirmed and 329 probable cases. There have now been a total of 147,329 confirmed cases; 83,860 probable cases and 3,159 suspected cases recorded by the county.
There were also additional cases reported in schools this week.
Another 39 cases were reported among school staff with another 104 cases among students.
In Cameron County, there were 190 new cases this week, including 96 confirmed and 94 probable cases this week.
The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the Valley did not see much change the previous week — from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2 — which is the latest data available from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
On Sept. 26, there were 69 people hospitalized with COVID and that number rose up a few times throughout the week to 72 patients before dropping again. By Oct. 2, the number had dropped to 67.
This past week, hospitalizations in Hidalgo County also saw little change.
There were 50 COVID hospitalizations at the beginning of the week in Hidalgo County but that number rose to 54 by the end of the week.
The 54 patients included 41 adults and 13 pediatric patients. Of the adults, eight were in intensive care units.
