The Texas National Guard will help morgues in the El Paso area with the bodies of COVID victims.

El Paso-area morgues try to cope with COVID-19 fatalities

EL PASO, Texas — The Texas National Guard has sent a 36-member team to El Paso to help morgues in the border region with the number of dead from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Statewide, the Texas Health Department on Saturday reported a one-day high of 12,597 new virus cases, nearly 20,500 dead and more than 8,200 virus hospitalizations.

“The Texas Military will provide us with the critical personnel to carry out our fatality management plan and we are very grateful to them for their ongoing support,” El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said late Friday when the deployment was announced.

The pandemic is blamed for more than 300 deaths in El Paso County since October, 853 total since the pandemic began.

In other developments:

■ The nation’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reached 12.01 million on Saturday, six days after the number had reached 11 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Daily numbers of new U.S. cases are approaching 200,000, less than three weeks after hitting 100,000 for the first time. The record of 195,542 new cases on Friday was the latest of several recent daily highs.

■ Oregon has reported a record number of coronavirus cases for the second day in a row.

On Saturday, the Oregon Health Authority said there were 1,509 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, spread across all but four of the state’s 36 counties, with the majority in the Portland metro area.

Seven new deaths were reported Saturday in the state.

■ The Rockefeller Center ice-skating rink is opening in a limited way and on time for the holidays.

The iconic, sunken rink in midtown Manhattan is welcoming skaters Saturday as part of a tradition dating to the 1930s, according to the Rockefeller Center website. The rink is operating at reduced capacity, with skate time limited to 50 minutes. Masks are required.

■ One of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s children may have been exposed to the coronavirus at school and is in quarantine.

The child began a 14-day quarantine “from the date of exposure” after the family was told a classmate at the private school had tested positive for the coronavirus, spokesman Nathan Click said in an emailed statement Friday.

The rest of the governor’s family is not quarantining because they weren’t directly exposed. The governor, his wife and all four of their children have tested negative for the virus, Click said.

Newsom had a rapid test this week that was negative and will get a regular test this weekend.