Hidalgo County announces 23 more coronavirus-related deaths, 209 additional cases

September 24, 2020

Hidalgo County reported on Wednesday 23 more residents died due to coronavirus complications, as well as 209 more tested positive for the virus — bringing the total number of fatalities in the county to 1,611 and the total of confirmed coronavirus cases to 31,371.

According to a news release from the county, there are currently 175 COVID-19 patients under hospitalization, including 73 in intensive care units.

On-campus instruction can be delayed another month in RGV

September 24, 2020

The state announced Thursday that Rio Grande Valley schools will have the option to extend their transition period into on-campus instruction by another month.

These changes, made to the Attendance and Enrollment COVID-19 guidance provided by the Texas Education Agency, allow school districts to extend their transition window by another four weeks once the plan is approved by their school board and preliminary TEA plan feedback is received.

How a glitchy computer system skewed Texas’ coronavirus data and hampered its pandemic response

September 24, 2020

A glitchy electronic system that state health officials had repeatedly warned was aging and at high risk of “critical failure” has stymied efforts to track and manage the coronavirus in Texas and left policymakers with incomplete, and at times inaccurate, data about the pandemic’s spread.

Local health officials were left to navigate a public health disaster using a system they describe as “cumbersome,” “archaic” and “really slow” and which until August could not keep pace with the 60,000 or more coronavirus test results it received on many days.

Younger Residents Are Succumbing To COVID-19

September 24, 2020

The coronavirus has proven deadly for several younger patients in the Rio Grande Valley.

In its Wednesday night report, Hidalgo County confirmed 25 more residents had died of the disease caused by the virus – including 3 people in their 40’s, 3 in their 30’s, and a Weslaco woman in her 20’s. The latest deaths raise the COVID-19 death toll in Hidalgo County to 1,588.