Robert Moore / El Paso Matters
Monday, April 19, 2021 | 06:00
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More than half of El Pasoans who qualify have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and one-third are fully vaccinated.
Still, the number of new infections has stagnated at a high level for five weeks and the number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus is increasing.
More than 352,000 El Pasoans had received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Saturday. That’s the 55 percent of our population 16 and older who is eligible to get vaccinated.
Almost 220,000 El Pasoans are now fully vaccinated, representing 34.3 percent of the eligible population.
Although El Paso had the highest vaccination rate of urban Texas counties in the first three months of the year, Hidalgo and Fort Bend counties now have the highest rate among those 16 and older.
Collin, Denton, and Fort Bend Counties are the leaders in fully vaccinating people 65 and older.
None of the doses to be shipped this week are from Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which require a single application.
The state of Texas is following a recommendation by federal officials to stop using that vaccine as scientists investigate a small number of cases where patients developed blood clots and reported it after people were vaccinated.
Over the past five weeks, more than 120,000 El Pasoans have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine and nearly 90,000 have been fully vaccinated. Even with that improvement, the number of new coronavirus infections in that period has not decreased.
El Paso has been stuck in a narrow range of 1,100 to 1,165 new cases each week.
The number of people with Covid-19 who required hospital treatment increased last week, a trend that is not surprising, since there were two weeks of increase in cases of infections.
In the next day or two, the City will announce that the death toll from Covid-19 has reached 2,500. In fact, that number was exceeded weeks ago, but the City’s Department of Public Health has been slow to confirm the findings. Covid-19 related deaths.
Until last Saturday, the State reported 2,620 deaths from Covid-19 in El Paso County. Hospitals and funeral homes report deaths to the state before they are reported to local governments.
Data from the local Public Health Department count El Paso County residents who died from the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) count the number of such deaths in El Paso County, regardless of residence. As of April 10, the CDC reported 2,875 coronavirus deaths in El Paso.
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Aracely Lazcano
The El Paso Journal
The Health authorities of the City of El Paso reported this Sunday that the increase in the number of coronavirus infections continues and report 215 new cases and no deaths.
As no deaths were reported, the current number stands at 2,496.
Of the more than 200 new infections of the respiratory disease reported yesterday, 8 additional cases are part of the delayed local results issued by the State to the Department of Public Health.
Health officials reported that there are 2,523 active cases, and if these patients do not respect the isolation orders, they could result in additional infections in the coming weeks. 16 percent of infected and undiagnosed people do not have any symptoms, thus representing a greater risk of transmitting the disease.
It is also reported that there are 174 patients receiving medical care in area hospitals, of which 54 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 25 of them are receiving respiratory support with ventilators.
The test results released yesterday are from testing conducted during CDC Week 15 of 2021. We are currently in CDC Week 15.
So far there are 127 thousand 203 people who have recovered from Covid-19 in El Paso County and since the first case of contagion was registered in this community in March 2020, 132 thousand 355 people have been infected. .
Meanwhile, the authorities continue to encourage the population to do so as soon as possible if they have not been vaccinated to minimize the risk of death in the event of contagion by the coronavirus.
So far in El Paso County, 34.3 percent of the population has been fully immunized, while another 55 percent have already received the first of their two doses.
Authorities report that so far 572,164 doses have been administered in El Paso County.
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