August 2, 2020

State officials report 226 new cases and 3 deaths related to COVID-19 on Sunday

State health officials reported 226 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday and three additional deaths related to the disease. The new cases bring the state’s total to 21,016 recorded cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of those who have died has now reached 654. Bernalillo County, the state’s most populous county, […]

Kendra Chamberlain

State health officials reported 226 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday and three additional deaths related to the disease. The new cases bring the state’s total to 21,016 recorded cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of those who have died has now reached 654.

Bernalillo County, the state’s most populous county, reported the highest number of new cases with 61. Doña Ana County reported 35 new cases, continuing an uptick in new cases reported there since mid-July. Santa Fe also reported a high number of new cases, with 19.

Of the 8,368 tests processed Sunday, 2.7 percent were positive. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has set a goal of keeping that rate below 3 percent, while state gating criteria aims to keep the rate below 5 percent.

While the state has experienced an uptick in new cases since mid-June, the number of deaths related to COVID-19 has luckily not kept pace. The state’s Department of Health released the following details about the newly deceased:

A male in his 40s from Chaves County who had underlying conditions.
A female in her 70s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 40s from Rio Arriba County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

There are currently 127 individuals hospitalized in the state with COVID-19, a decrease of seven since Saturday. The number could include out-of-state residents who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized out-of-state.

The state also announced 8,343 COVID-19 cases are now designated as recovered, an increase of 75 since Saturday.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page said that, as of Sunday, the state has processed 574,253 tests, an increase of 8,368 over Saturday’s total.

Eight counties reported double-digit increases in new cases: Curry County continued to see a spike in cases, reporting 22 cases on Sunday. Santa Fe County reported 19 new cases, while Chaves County reported 15 new cases, another high single-day increase for the county. Lea County reported 16 new cases; Doña Ana County reported 35 new cases; Bernalillo County reported 61 new cases; Sandoval County reported 13 new cases and Valencia County reported 12 new cases.

The number of new cases broken down by county are:

61 new cases in Bernalillo County
15 new cases in Chaves County
3 new cases in Cibola County
1 new case in Colfax County
22 new cases in Curry County
35 new cases in Doña Ana County
6 new cases in Eddy County
16 new cases in Lea County
6 new cases in Lincoln County
1 new case in Luna County
5 new cases in McKinley County
1 new case in Otero County
1 new csae in Quay County
2 new cases in Roosevelt County
13 new cases in Sandoval County
3 new cases in San Juan County
1 new case in San Miguel County
19 new cases in Santa Fe County
2 new cases in Taos County
1 new case in Torrance County
12 new cases in Valencia County

Five previously reported cases were identified as duplicates (one in Curry County, one in Lea County, two in McKinley County and one in Roosevelt County); and one case in Bernalillo County was determined to be an out-of-state resident – these have now been corrected.

The county totals for COVID-19 cases are:

Bernalillo County: 4,860
Catron County: 4
Chaves County: 362
Cibola County: 336
Colfax County: 14
Curry County: 480
Doña Ana County: 2,214
Eddy County: 253
Grant County: 67
Guadalupe County: 31
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 88
Lea County: 641
Lincoln County: 105
Los Alamos County: 20
Luna County: 226
McKinley County: 4,002
Mora County: 6
Otero County: 184
Quay County: 32
Rio Arriba County: 294
Roosevelt County: 141
Sandoval County: 1,095
San Juan County: 3,002
San Miguel County: 42
Santa Fe County: 595
Sierra County: 29
Socorro County: 73
Taos County: 98
Torrance County: 60
Union County: 27
Valencia County: 369

DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:

Cibola County Correctional Center: 279
Otero County Prison Facility: 279
Otero County Processing Center: 159
Torrance County Detention Facility: 43

And DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by the New Mexico Corrections Department at the following facilities:

Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 25
Lea County Correctional Facility: 4
Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 1
Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 1
Otero County Prison Facility: 470
Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 3

The state has also identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days at 44 long-term care and acute care facilities, with no change since Saturday.