City of El Paso sets record for deadliest COVID-19 week, confirms 108 deaths are under investigation

Andra Litton/KTSM, Sean Noone

Updated: Aug 15, 2020 / 03:01 PM CDT

This 2020 electron microscope made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention image shows the spherical coronavirus particles from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. Released by the CDC on Friday, July 31, 2020, a Georgia summer camp hit by a coronavirus outbreak took many precautions, but didn’t make campers wear masks and put too many children in the same cabin, according to a government report released Friday. (C.S. Goldsmith, A. Tamin/CDC via AP)

EL PASO, Texas (NewsNation/KTSM) — The deadliest week in reported COVID-19 deaths comes to an end Saturday, as El Paso health officials report three additional fatalities. The number of deaths associated with the virus is 357 — 66 of those were reported just this week.

Saturday’s reported deaths include a man in his 60s with no underlying health conditions, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s.

According to health officials, the deaths did not all happen in one day, and all of the deaths reported since last Sunday happened between the first week of July and the second week of August. The City confirmed there are 108 deaths under investigation for COVID-19 at this time; they have yet to be certified by the medical examiner’s office.

For the second time in a week, El Paso is reporting delayed positive test results for 356 cases from State-run testing sites operated by HONU. The majority of delayed test results fall between the week ending in July 4 through July 18.

The city also reported 91 additional positive COVID-19 cases Saturday, bringing the number of total cases since the pandemic began to 18,079. There are 4,427 active cases and 13,296 recovered patients.

If the current numbers hold, and no backlogged state tests are added to this week’s total new positive tests, El Paso will have seen a 22.3% drop in positive cases this week.

The number of people hospitalized in El Paso County is also down to 161 — the lowest hospitalization rate since June 30. There are currently 53 patients in the ICU, 33 of whom are on ventilators. The number of patients in ICU is the lowest since June 25.