October 9, 2020

New Mexico hits new one-day COVID-19 high, crosses 900 total deaths

The state Department of Health reported 488 new cases of COVID-19, the most in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic. DOH also reported three additional deaths related to the disease. The number of those hospitalized also grew significantly on Friday. New Mexico now has 32,241 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 902 […]

Matthew Reichbach

The state Department of Health reported 488 new cases of COVID-19, the most in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic.

DOH also reported three additional deaths related to the disease.

The number of those hospitalized also grew significantly on Friday.

New Mexico now has 32,241 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 902 deaths related to the disease.

Nearly half of the new cases came out of just two counties: 135 in Bernalillo County and 81 in Doña Ana County. The 81 cases were the third most in a single day for Doña Ana County, after 85 cases on July 6 and 82 cases on July 13.

Chaves County, which has less than a third of the population of Doña Ana County and less than ten percent of the population of Bernalillo County, had 41 new cases. DOH also reported 36 new cases in Lea County, 28 new cases in Eddy County, 28 new cases in Sandoval County. Seven other counties had between 10 and 20 new cases and 14 counties had 9 or fewer cases.

DOH also reported five new cases among those being held for federal agencies at the Cibola County Correctional Center.

The new high in cases came a day after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham warned of possible “uncontrollable spread” of the disease in the state.

DOH provided some limited details on the three newly reported deaths. One was a male in his 70s from Chaves County, another a male in his 80s from Chaves County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions and the third a male in his 80s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

DOH, as usual, did not disclose which underlying condition any had because of privacy concerns, only if one was present.

The number of those hospitalized also spiked to 133, 14 more than reported on Thursday. The 133 people hospitalized is the highest since August 11. This could include residents from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized out of state.

The number of those designated as recovered by DOH reached 18,335, 290 more than Thursday.

Testing details

The DOH coronavirus information page said the state has processed 980,053 tests, an increase of 6,108 since Thursday.

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

135 new cases in Bernalillo County
41 new cases in Chaves County
3 new cases in Cibola County
10 new cases in Curry County
81 new cases in Doña Ana County
28 new cases in Eddy County
4 new cases in Grant County
2 new cases in Hidalgo County
36 new cases in Lea County
2 new cases in Lincoln County
18 new cases in Luna County
12 new cases in McKinley County
1 new case in Mora County
5 new cases in Otero County
4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
6 new cases in Roosevelt County
28 new cases in Sandoval County
19 new cases in San Juan County
1 new case in San Miguel County
19 new cases in Santa Fe County
3 new cases in Sierra County
11 new cases in Socorro County
2 new cases in Taos County
4 new cases in Torrance County
3 new cases in Union County
5 new cases in Valencia County
5 new cases among individuals being held by federal agencies at the Cibola County Correctional Center

DOH also provided the total number of confirmed cases by county since the beginning of the pandemic, including the newly reported cases from Friday.

One previously reported case in Doña Ana County was not lab confirmed and two previously reported cases (one in Doña Ana County and one in San Juan County) were identified as out-of-state residents. Both have been removed from the totals.

Bernalillo County: 7,420
Catron County: 9
Chaves County: 1,469
Cibola County: 454
Colfax County: 40
Curry County: 1,025
De Baca County: 1
Doña Ana County: 3,918
Eddy County: 1003
Grant County: 140
Guadalupe County: 36
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 106
Lea County: 1,620
Lincoln County: 246
Los Alamos County: 36
Luna County: 482
McKinley County: 4,396
Mora County: 8
Otero County: 293
Quay County: 77
Rio Arriba County: 414
Roosevelt County: 333
Sandoval County: 1,484
San Juan County: 3,449
San Miguel County: 112
Santa Fe County: 1,163
Sierra County: 57
Socorro County: 137
Taos County: 153
Torrance County: 88
Union County: 37
Valencia County: 636

DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:

Cibola County Correctional Center: 329
Otero County Prison Facility: 288
Otero County Processing Center: 166
Torrance County Detention Facility: 44

DOH 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: 35
Lea County Correctional Facility: 52
Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 5
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

DOH has identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days in 39 long-term care facilities, one more than reported on Thursday.