Five signs that show how bad El Paso’s outbreak is
The US had just over nine million Covid-19 cases when November began – now, just weeks later, the country is topping 11 million. And one west Texas county has emerged as the latest American epicentre. Right on the border with Mexico, El Paso in Texas is known for its desert landscape, military complexes and plentiful sunshine. Now, it’s making a name as one of the worst hit regions in the nation. Covid-19 patients account for more than half of all hospital admissions in the county of El Paso, and the case count continues to trend upwards. Here are five symptoms of the unfolding crisis.
With cases going up by more than a thousand every day in El Paso, some 76,000 people have now been infected. That’s about the same number of confirmed cases as in the whole of Greece or Libya. Data shows 1,120 El Paso residents are currently in hospital with the virus, and this number is expected to rise. That means that of all the Covid patients in hospital across the state of Texas, one in six is in El Paso, according to the latest figures. A total of 782 people are known to have died.(BBC)…[+]