September 21, 2020

DOH: 106 new COVID-19 cases, two additional deaths

On Monday, state health officials reported 106 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths related to the disease.

Bernalillo County, with 27, Doña Ana County, with 18, and Santa Fe County, with 15, were the only three counties with double-digit numbers of newly reported cases.

The state Department of Health has now found 27,683 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 851 deaths related to the disease.

The two deaths related to the disease were both women who had underlying conditions, though DOH, as usual, did not disclose which underlying condition because of privacy concerns.

One woman was in her 70s from Bernalillo County, while the other was a woman in her 60s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized.

DOH reported that 71 people are hospitalized for COVID-19, an increase of seven people since Friday’s report. This could include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized for COVID-19 out of state.

DOH also reported 15,518 confirmed cases are now designated as recovered, an increase of 96 people since Sunday.

Gating criteria

Most of the state’s gating criteria are updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

In recent days, the state’s rate of spread exceeded the goal of 1.05 or below.

The rate of spread increased to 1.11 as of Sept. 20. This is the number of people each person, on average, with COVID-19 will spread the disease to others. The state’s metro area had the highest spread rate of the five regions, at 1.19, while the northwest had the lowest, at 1.

The state’s daily cases, on a seven-day rolling average based on the date of specimen collection, is at 104 as of Sept. 15, well under the state’s goal of 168 or below. The date lags because different laboratories take longer to process results and report them to the state.

In positive news, the state processed 5,679 tests per day on a seven-day rolling average as of Sept. 19. The state had peaked at just over 7,900 tests in late July, maintaining near that number through the first few days of August. As of Sept. 11, the state was only processing 4,208 tests on a seven-day rolling average, largely because of a lack of public demand, state officials said.

The positivity rate also remained low, at 2.2 percent as of Sept. 19, well below the state’s goal of 5 percent of below.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page said the state has processed 866,683 tests as of Monday, an increase of 3,784 tests since Sunday. 

DOH provided the total number of newly reported cases by county.

  • 27 new cases in Bernalillo County
  • 9 new cases in Chaves County
  • 1 new case in Cibola County
  • 3 new cases in Curry County
  • 18 new cases in Doña Ana County
  • 5 new cases in Eddy County
  • 7 new cases in Lea County
  • 7 new cases in Luna County
  • 1 new case in McKinley County
  • 1 new case in Otero County
  • 2 new cases in Rio Arriba County
  • 1 new case in Roosevelt County
  • 4 new cases in San Juan County
  • 3 new cases in Sandoval County
  • 15 new cases in Santa Fe County
  • 2 new cases in Taos County

Additionally, DOH provided the total number of cases by county, including those reported on Monday.

DOH said that two previously reported cases (one in Bernalillo County and one in Sandoval County) were identified to be out-of-state residents and were removed from the totals.

  • Bernalillo County: 6,226
  • Catron County: 9
  • Chaves County: 1,040
  • Cibola County: 404
  • Colfax County: 27
  • Curry County: 743
  • De Baca County: 1
  • Doña Ana County: 3,147
  • Eddy County: 699
  • Grant County: 108
  • Guadalupe County: 34
  • Harding County: 2
  • Hidalgo County: 99
  • Lea County: 1,334
  • Lincoln County: 189
  • Los Alamos County: 31
  • Luna County: 408
  • McKinley County: 4,295
  • Mora County: 7
  • Otero County: 248
  • Quay County: 73
  • Rio Arriba County: 386
  • Roosevelt County: 268
  • Sandoval County: 1,314
  • San Juan County: 3,266
  • San Miguel County: 94
  • Santa Fe County: 957
  • Sierra County: 42
  • Socorro County: 89
  • Taos County: 131
  • Torrance County: 65
  • Union County: 31
  • Valencia County: 555

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: 163
  • 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: 33
  • Lea County Correctional Facility: 37
  • Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 1
  • Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 1
  • Otero County Prison Facility: 472
  • Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
  • Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 4

There are 33 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. That’s an increase of two since Friday.

Update (4:45 p.m.): Added updated gating criteria information.

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