Top health authorities from Cameron and Hidalgo County say COVID-related deaths are going up as hospitalizations and cases trend downward.  

"The natural evolution is that if we peaked four weeks ago, our deaths are peaking now," Hidalgo County Health Authority Dr. Ivan Melendez said, adding that the increase in COVID-related deaths is a result of the omicron variant wave. 

Data from Hidalgo County for the last month shows 181 people lost their life from virus complications. 

In Cameron County, Health Authority Dr. James Castillo says even though COVID-related hospitalizations are down 70% across the county, deaths are not. 

Over the last month, Cameron County reported 109 people died of virus-related complications. 

The health authorities say they're no longer seeing people in their 20s and 30s dying. Right now, they say it's mostly a mix of people in their 40s and older. 

Although vaccines cannot prevent infection, both doctors say vaccines make a difference in fighting a COVID infection. 

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