March 1, 2021

DOH reports 166 new cases, 13 additional deaths

The state Department of Health reported the fewest newly reported number of COVID-19 cases in months, with 166 new cases on Monday. The department also reported 13 additional deaths related to the disease. The last time the state reported fewer than 166 cases was on Oct. 5, when the state reported 157 new cases. This […]

Matthew Reichbach

The state Department of Health reported the fewest newly reported number of COVID-19 cases in months, with 166 new cases on Monday. The department also reported 13 additional deaths related to the disease.

The last time the state reported fewer than 166 cases was on Oct. 5, when the state reported 157 new cases.

This low number of cases did come with a much lower than average number of newly reported tests.

Between Saturday and Sunday, the state reported 520 new cases and 31 additional deaths.

DOH has now found 185,297 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic and reported 3,729 deaths related to the disease. Of the confirmed cases, 147,446 are designated as recovered by the department.

As of Monday, DOH reported 186 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, the lowest number since Oct. 19. This could include those from other states who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized in other states.

DOH provided some information on each of the 14 newly reported deaths Monday.

A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 60s from Chaves County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions who was a resident of the Casa Maria Health Care Center in Roswell.
A male in his 70s from Cibola County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 70s from Colfax County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Raton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Raton.
A female in her 70s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Las Cruces.
A male in his 80s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions.
A female in her 90s from Doña Ana County.
A male in his 60s from Lea County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 70s from Lea County.
A female in her 40s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 50s from McKinley County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 80s from Otero County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Rio Arriba County.

DOH does not disclose which underlying condition any of the deceased had, only if one was present before death.

The most common underlying condition for those who died with COVID-19 was hypertension, followed by diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to the most recently available mortality update. Some of those who died had multiple comorbidities.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Rapid Response COVID-19 Watchlist had 38 establishments listed as of Monday. These workplaces had two or more COVID-19 rapid responses in the last 14 days.

Gating criteria

The number of daily cases, on a seven-day rolling average, increased slightly over the last few days for which the state had full data, rising slightly to 285 as of Feb. 23. It had fallen as low as 265 on Feb. 19 in recent days

The rate of spread, however, has grown to 1.04, as of Feb. 28. The state hopes to keep this number at or below 1.05. This is the number of people, on average, someone with COVID-19 will spread the disease to.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page says the state has processed 2,699,792 tests as of Monday, 6,331 more than reported on Sunday. The 166 positive cases Monday represented 2.62 percent of the newly reported tests, though this calculation is not the same as the one used by the state for its gating criteria, since it uses raw data and potential duplicates or late-arriving positives or negatives are not included.

The total number of cases per county, as of Monday, are as follows: