State health officials announced Thursday 239 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths related to the disease. It’s the second day in a row that the state has reported more than 200 new cases in a day, after nearly a month of lower single-day case increases.
Eight counties reported double-digit increases in new cases Thursday. Bernalillo County led the state with 58 new cases of COVID-19; Doña Ana County reported 29 new cases, Eddy County reported 23 new cases, Chaves County and Lea County both reported 16 new cases, San Juan County reported 15 new cases, Curry County reported 11 new cases and Santa Fe County reported 10 new cases.
The uptick in COVID-19 cases comes about two weeks after the Labor Day holiday weekend, which is within the average incubation period for the virus. The state also allowed indoor dining at restaurants and eased other COVID-19 restrictions at the end of August.
With Thursday’s new cases, the state has now recorded 28,224 COVID-19 cases and 859 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
The state Department of Health provided a few details about each of the two deaths:
- A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who was a resident of the Princeton Place facility in Albuquerque.
- A female in her 90s from Cibola County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
DOH did not disclose which underlying condition any person had, because of privacy issues, only if one was present.
There are currently 66 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19, a decrease of six since Wednesday. DOH said 16 individuals are currently on ventilators.
DOH has now designated 15,825 COVID-19 cases as recovered, an increase of 239 cases since Wednesday.
Testing details
The state coronavirus information page said the state has processed 885,373 COVID-19 tests as of Thursday, which was 6,967 more tests than reported on Wednesday.
The new cases by county are:
- 58 new cases in Bernalillo County
- 16 new cases in Chaves County
- 5 new cases in Cibola County
- 11 new cases in Curry County
- 29 new cases in Doña Ana County
- 23 new cases in Eddy County
- 7 new cases in Grant County
- 16 new cases in Lea County
- 3 new cases in Lincoln County
- 5 new case in Luna County
- 3 new cases in McKinley County
- 4 new cases in Otero County
- 5 new cases in Rio Arriba County
- 5 new cases in Roosevelt County
- 15 new cases in San Juan County
- 1 new case in San Miguel County
- 8 new cases in Sandoval County
- 10 new cases in Santa Fe County
- 4 new cases in Socorro County
- 5 new cases in Taos County
- 5 new cases in Valencia County
- 1 new case among individuals held by federal agencies at Otero County Prison Facility
The state also provided the total number of cases, including Thursday’s numbers, by county. One previously reported case in Rio Arriba County was identified as a duplicate; and one previously reported case in Curry County was identified as an out-of-state resident. Those have been removed from the totals.
- Bernalillo County: 6,327
- Catron County: 9
- Chaves County: 1,082
- Cibola County: 415
- Colfax County: 29
- Curry County: 769
- De Baca County: 1
- Doña Ana County: 3,227
- Eddy County: 758
- Grant County: 119
- Guadalupe County: 34
- Harding County: 2
- Hidalgo County: 99
- Lea County: 1,365
- Lincoln County: 199
- Los Alamos County: 32
- Luna County: 416
- McKinley County: 4,311
- Mora County: 7
- Otero County: 254
- Quay County: 74
- Rio Arriba County: 390
- Roosevelt County: 280
- Sandoval County: 1,329
- San Juan County: 3,295
- San Miguel County: 105
- Santa Fe County: 970
- Sierra County: 44
- Socorro County: 101
- Taos County: 138
- Torrance County: 66
- Union County: 31
- Valencia County: 572
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: 282
- 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: 48
- 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
- Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 1
- Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 4
There are 27 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 the same number reported Wednesday.
