158 new cases of COVID-19, two additional deaths

On Monday, the state Department of Health reported 158 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths related to the disease.

The new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in New Mexico to 30,632 and the number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 894.

The new cases included 51 in Bernalillo County, 44 in Doña Ana County, 14 in Sandoval County, 12 in Curry County, 10 in Chaves County and one additional case among state inmates at the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County.

The two deaths were both residents in their 70s, according to DOH. One was a female from Chaves County, the other a male from Lea County. Both were hospitalized and had underlying conditions. DOH does not disclose which underlying condition any of the deceased had, only if one was present.

The number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 increased to 97, six more than were hospitalized on Sunday. This could include those from other locations who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized out of state.

The number of those designated as recovered by DOH also increased, to 17,330. That’s an increase of 60 from Sunday’s total.

In a separate release, the Public Education Department reported 17 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state’s public schools in the last 72 hours.

Gating criteria

The number of daily cases, by date of specimen collection and on a seven-day rolling average, continued to rise, and hit 193 as of Sept. 28, higher than the goal of 168 cases or fewer. The date lags because some labs take longer to process and report totals to the state.

The rate of spread largely leveled off after rapid growth from early to mid-September, and stood at 1.24 as of Oct. 4—still much higher than at any time since the first few weeks of the pandemic. The state aims to keep the rate of spread at or below 1.05. The rate of spread is the number of people, on average, someone with COVID-19 will spread the disease to, and anything over 1 means the disease is spreading.

The test positivity rate remained below the goal of 5 percent, but continues to rise. As of Oct. 3, the test positive rate was 3.7 percent, the highest since early August.

Testing details

The DOH coronavirus information page said the state has processed 954,596 tests as of Monday, an increase of 6,651 since Sunday.

DOH reported the number of newly reported cases by county.

51 new cases in Bernalillo County
10 new cases in Chaves County
1 new case in Cibola County
12 new cases in Curry County
44 new cases in Doña Ana County
1 new case in Lea County
2 new cases in Lincoln County
4 new cases in Luna County
1 new case in McKinley County
1 new case in Otero County
1 new case in Quay County
2 new cases in Roosevelt County
14 new cases in Sandoval County
4 new cases in San Juan County
1 new case in San Miguel County
3 new cases in Santa Fe County
1 new cases in Sierra County
2 new cases in Socorro County
2 new cases in Valencia County
1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County

DOH also reported the total number of cases by county, including those reported on Sunday.

Two previously reported cases (one in Curry County and one in Santa Fe County) were identified as duplicates, while another previously purported case from Bernalillo County was identified as an out-of-state resident. These cases have been corrected and removed from the state’s totals.

Bernalillo County: 6,928
Catron County: 9
Chaves County: 1,356
Cibola County: 446
Colfax County: 39
Curry County: 919
De Baca County: 1
Doña Ana County: 3,678
Eddy County: 911
Grant County: 131
Guadalupe County: 34
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 102
Lea County: 1,524
Lincoln County: 225
Los Alamos County: 35
Luna County: 449
McKinley County: 4,356
Mora County: 7
Otero County: 280
Quay County: 77
Rio Arriba County: 404
Roosevelt County: 306
Sandoval County: 1,419
San Juan County: 3,392
San Miguel County: 104
Santa Fe County: 1,083
Sierra County: 50
Socorro County: 117
Taos County: 148
Torrance County: 80
Union County: 31
Valencia County: 606

Below are the cumulative number of cases from detention centers that house federal detainees.

Cibola County Correctional Center: 324
Otero County Prison Facility: 286
Otero County Processing Center: 163
Torrance County Detention Facility: 44

And below are the total number of cases from detention centers that house state inmates.

Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 35
Lea County Correctional Facility: 51
Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 2
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

According to state health officials, there are 40 congregate care facilities that have reported at least one case of COVID-19 in the past 28 days. This is one more facility than listed in Sunday’s report.