COVID-19 cases going up along with deaths across Imperial Valley

Imperial County has high death rate - News 11's Wiley Jawhary reports

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Imperial County Public Health Department (ICPHD) says the number of COVID-19 deaths are going up as cases also continue to increase across the Imperial Valley.

Currently, ICPHD says there are 819 deaths related to COVID-19 across the Imperial Valley. Janette Angulo is the director of the ICPHD. She says additional deaths are being investigated as well.

"We are seeing additional deaths but we have to investigate them before we determine those deaths to be related to COVID-19," she said.

Angulo says the additional deaths as a result of COVID-19 will be updated on Tuesdays dashboard. Meanwhile medical health experts across the Imperial Valley are urging residents to mask up and get vaccinated.

The ICPHD says there are 12 cases of the Omicron Variant in Imperial County and that number is also expected to go up.

Angulo says it has been difficult to track Omicron due to similar symptoms between Omicron and Delta.

"It could be the whole array of COVID-19 symptoms, from fever, to throat, runny nose, loss of taste of smell, it just depends on the person," she said.

Angulo noted, some do feel symptoms and some feel no symptoms at all.

News 11's Wiley Jawhary will have the full COVID-19 update on the Evening Edition at 5 p.m. MST.