State rockets past single-day COVID-19 case total—for second day in a row

The state of New Mexico reported 672 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, once again shattering the previous record, which was set just a day before as the governor and health officials warned of uncontrollable spread of the disease.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the numbers “not just alarming, but shocking” in a press conference on Thursday and said New Mexico is in “uncharted waters.”

She said the state had a positivity rate of 8.1 percent, the highest rate in the state since the earliest days of the pandemic.

Nearly half of the cases, 303, were from Bernalillo County, by far the highest number of cases in a single day in the state’s most-populous county. The previous record, 199, was set on Wednesday.

Next-most was Doña Ana County, with 89 new cases.

Other counties with 20 or more cases were Chaves County (37), Sandoval County (29), San Juan County (28), Eddy County (26) and Valencia County (20).

Four other counties had at least ten cases of the disease, and twelve other counties had at least one case.

DOH also said that there were 11 cases among either inmates held for the state Corrections Department or among those held for federal agencies.

Lujan Grisham also announced one additional death related to the disease.

New Mexico now has found 34,958 cases of COVID-19 and 922 deaths related to the disease.

Additionally, the state found its first confirmed cases of the flu this year, a teenager living in southeast New Mexico.

DOH said the newly announced death was a female in her 70s from Luna County, who was hospitalized and had underlying medical conditions. As usual, the department did not disclose which medical conditions, only if one was present.

The number of hospitalizations also jumped, to 150 from 145 on Thursday. This could include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized out of state.

Lujan Grisham said the number of those hospitalized was up 74 percent so far this month, and that 21 of those currently hospitalized are on ventilators.

The number of those designated as recovered increased to 19,457, 330 more than reported on Wednesday.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page said 1,027,392 tests have been processed in the state as of Thursday. This is an increase of 8,363 since Wednesday.

DOH provided the number of newly confirmed cases by county, with those held by the state Department of Corrections or federal agencies separated from the counties in which the facilities are located.

303 new cases in Bernalillo County
37 new cases in Chaves County
6 new cases in Cibola County
17 new cases in Curry County
89 new cases in Doña Ana County
26 new cases in Eddy County
5 new cases in Grant County
3 new cases in Hidalgo County
28 new cases in Lea County
3 new cases in Lincoln County
14 new cases in Luna County
14 new cases in McKinley County
2 new cases in Mora County
2 new cases in Otero County
6 new cases in Quay County
1 new cases in Rio Arriba County
6 new cases in Roosevelt County
29 new cases in Sandoval County
28 new cases in San Juan County
2 new cases in San Miguel County
18 new cases in Santa Fe County
2 new cases in Taos County
20 new cases in Valencia County
6 new cases among individuals being held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility
2 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County
3 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County

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

DOH identified four previously reported cases as duplicates (one in each of Doña Ana, Eddy, Otero and Sandoval counties) and one case previously attributed to someone in Otero County as an individual being held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility. These have been corrected.

Bernalillo County: 8,428
Catron County: 9
Chaves County: 1,664
Cibola County: 479
Colfax County: 41
Curry County: 1,155
De Baca County: 1
Doña Ana County: 4,355
Eddy County: 1,089
Grant County: 156
Guadalupe County: 37
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 111
Lea County: 1,713
Lincoln County: 267
Los Alamos County: 37
Luna County: 528
McKinley County: 4,449
Mora County: 12
Otero County: 319
Quay County: 86
Rio Arriba County: 428
Roosevelt County: 365
Sandoval County: 1,622
San Juan County: 3,536
San Miguel County: 128
Santa Fe County: 1,274
Sierra County: 67
Socorro County: 148
Taos County: 164
Torrance County: 91
Union County: 37
Valencia County: 702

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: 302
Otero County Processing Center: 181
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: 40
Lea County Correctional Facility: 75
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: 5
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 at 43 long-term care facilities, one more than reported on Wednesday: