State health officials reported 92 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday and six deaths related to the disease, in another day of low reported numbers of new cases across the state and low number of tests processed.
Only two counties reported double-digit increases in news cases: Doña Ana County reported 17 new cases and Chaves County reported 14 new cases. The New Mexico Department of Health has recorded a total of 26,268 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The state is currently meeting nearly every gating criteria set for reopening, except for the number of tests processed. DOH has set a goal of conducting 5,000 tests per day on a seven-day rolling average, but currently sits at 4,896, due to a recent dip in testing. The state processed 3,428 tests since Tuesday.
With the six new deaths reported Wednesday, the state has now seen 813 deaths related to COVID-19.
The six deaths were:
- A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who was a resident of The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque and was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
- A male in his 70s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions.
- A female in her 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
- A male in his 90s from Doña Ana County who was a resident of Welbrook Senior Living in Las Cruces and was hospitalized.
- A male in his 80s from Lea County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
- A female in her 80s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
As usual, because of privacy concerns, the state did not disclose which underlying condition any of the deceased had, only if one was present.
DOH said 77 individuals are currently hospitalized for COVID-19, an increase of nine since Tuesday. This number would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized out of state, but would include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico.
A total of 13,928 COVID-19 cases have now been designated as recovered by DOH, an increase of 227 since Tuesday.
Gating Criteria
The state is meeting nearly all of the gating criteria that were updated Wednesday.
The state’s rate of spread on a 10-day rolling average, which measures the number of people, on average, someone with COVID-19 will spread the disease to is currently at 0.76, well below the target of 1.05. The number of daily new cases, on a seven-day rolling average, is now at 105, below the target of 168. And the positivity rate, on a seven-day rolling average, is currently at 2.3 percent, well below the target of 5 percent.
But as of Wednesday, the state is no longer meeting its testing target of 5,000 tests per day, on a seven-day rolling average. The current status of the state’s testing average is 4,896 tests.
Wednesday marks the third day in a row that the state has processed less than 5,000 tests.The number of tests per day on a seven-day rolling average dropped to 4,910 as of September 6, the first time New Mexico was beneath its goal since June 26. At its peak in late July, the state averaged over 7,900 tests per day.
Testing details
The state coronavirus information page said that, as of Wednesday, the state had processed 803,101 tests, an increase of 3,428 from Tuesday’s total.
DOH provided the total number of newly reported cases by county:
- 6 new cases in Bernalillo County
- 16 new cases in Chaves County
- 7 new cases in Curry County
- 17 new cases in Doña Ana County
- 4 new cases in Eddy County
- 9 new cases in Lea County
- 1 new case in Los Alamos County
- 3 new cases in Luna County
- 6 new cases in McKinley County
- 1 new case in Otero County
- 1 new case in Quay County
- 1 new case in Rio Arriba County
- 4 new cases in Roosevelt County
- 4 new cases in Sandoval County
- 4 new cases in San Juan County
- 4 new cases in Santa Fe County
- 1 new case in Taos County
- 1 new case in Valencia County
- 2 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County
DOH also reported the total number of cases by county including the cases reported on Wednesday. Three previously reported cases were determined to be duplicates (two in Lea County, one in San Juan County); one previously reported case in Curry County was not lab confirmed; and one previously reported case in Rio Arriba County was identified as an out-of-state resident. Those have all been removed from the county totals.
- Bernalillo County: 5,985
- Catron County: 11
- Chaves County: 836
- Cibola County: 397
- Colfax County: 23
- Curry County: 713
- Doña Ana County: 2,972
- Eddy County: 588
- Grant County: 90
- Guadalupe County: 32
- Harding County: 2
- Hidalgo County: 98
- Lea County: 1,212
- Lincoln County: 175
- Los Alamos County: 28
- Luna County: 345
- McKinley County: 4,250
- Mora County: 6
- Otero County: 229
- Quay County: 65
- Rio Arriba County: 370
- Roosevelt County: 214
- Sandoval County: 1,266
- San Juan County: 3,223
- San Miguel County: 87
- Santa Fe County: 871
- Sierra County: 38
- Socorro County: 78
- Taos County: 119
- Torrance County: 63
- Union County: 31
- Valencia County: 528
DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:
- Cibola County Correctional Center: 324
- Otero County Prison Facility: 281
- Otero County Processing Center: 159
- Torrance County Detention Facility: 44
DOH also 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: 31
- 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: 473
- Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
- Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 4
There are 43 acute care or long-term care facilities with at least one staff or resident who tested positive for the disease within the last 28 days, according to DOH. This is two fewer than reported by DOH on Tuesday.
