Texas coronavirus hospitalizations fall below 10,000

Frontline healthcare workers check information at a COVID-19 testing site amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in El Paso on November 13, 2020 in El Paso, Texas. Texas eclipsed one million COVID-19 cases November 11th with El Paso holding the most cases statewide. Health officials in El Paso today announced 16 additional COVID-19 related deaths along with 1,488 new cases pushing the virus death toll to 741. Active cases in El Paso are now over 30,000. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Mario Tama, 2020 Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas – The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus fell below 10,000 on Saturday, the first time since Dec. 19, according to the state health department.

There were 9,957 hospitalizations in addition to 13,192 newly reported confirmed or suspected virus cases and 348 additional deaths due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, the department reported.

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There have been 38,476 COVID-19 deaths and more than 2.15 million cases since the pandemic began.

Texas had the third highest number of new cases per capita in the nation with 871.77 per 100,000 residents, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The seven-day rolling averages of both deaths and new cases declined in the state during the past two weeks, deaths dropping from 322.43 per day on Jan. 22 to 305.71 and new cases falling from 19,769.43 to 18,979.71, according to the Johns Hopkins data.