EL PASO, Texas – Saturday morning’s news release from the El Paso Department of Public Health began in the same way that these announcements now run every day for well over a month: “Unfortunately, today we report (insert number) deaths …”
The number was at four on Saturday when El Paso County’s cause of death from coronavirus approached 400, currently at 390.
The latest victims included three women in their 40s, 70s and 80s, along with a man in his 70s.
In addition, health officials reported 115 new virus cases and 24 so-called ‘delayed cases’ – positive results from state-coordinated tests that often date back weeks.
El Paso County has recorded more than 1,000 of these delayed positive positions of the state in the past few weeks, leading to questions about how accurate a sense the public really has about the spread of the virus in the community.
This is because at that time calculated positive rates did not include these ‘delayed’ results that local health leaders said they were unaware of.
In Saturday’s news release, it was noted in bold that 15,591 El Pasoans, or 81% of all cases, have recovered.
Although this is a positive trend, many experts would note that this caveat is not reflected in the release: Studies show that there are people who may experience long-term complications as a result of being infected with the virus .
There are currently 3,335 active cases, representing a decline in record numbers of active infections earlier in the week.
