Hidalgo County reported 23 more people dying due to complications associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday, news that comes the same day the United States reached an “unfathomable” milestone as the nation’s death toll now exceeds 200,000.
In a news release, the county announced the nearly two dozen deaths in addition to 255 people who tested positive for the virus.
“There has been suffering at both the national and local level from this terrible disease,” county judge Richard F. Cortez said in the release. “We must fight back by being smart and doing what we know works, especially avoiding crowds and staying home when possible.”
The death toll for the nation is currently 205,384 according to the website www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/, of which 1,563 were from Hidalgo County.
The total number of positive cases in the county rose to 30,998, with 2,201 of those cases currently active.
There are 181 people in local hospitals with COVID-19, with 65 of those in intensive care units. The county also reported that 238 were released from isolation on Tuesday.
The county has conducted a total of 157,447 COVID-19 tests, and 126,136 have yielded negative results.
Cameron County added nine more COVID-19 related deaths on Tuesday as well as 45 new cases of the virus.
The deaths include three men and a woman from Brownsville, a man from Harlingen, a man from La Feria, a woman from Los Fresnos, a man from Port Isabel and a woman from San Benito, raising the death toll in the county to 886.
Of the 45 new COVID-19 cases, 30 were from Brownsville, five from Harlingen, one from Los Fresnos, one from Port Isabel, and eight from San Benito, raising that total to 22,544.
The county also reported that an additional 93 people recovered from the virus, raising that total to 19,647.
Reporting numbers reflecting Monday, Starr County has also confirmed five new cases of COVID-19.
The county currently has 599 active cases, and 2,948 people have recovered from the virus.
There have been 159 COVID-19 related deaths in Starr.
Willacy County announced that one person tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, a woman in her 20s.
The county now has a total of 1,173 confirmed cases, of which 10 are still active.
There have been 1,147 people who have recovered from the virus, and there have been 48 COVID-19 related deaths.
