October 21, 2020

COVID-19 hits new daily record in NM: 827 new cases of COVID-19, eight new deaths

State health officials reported 827 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number reported in a single day in the state, and the second time in the last week the state has reported 800 or more confirmed cases in a single day. DOH also reported eight additional deaths, the most reported in a single day since […]

Matthew Reichbach

State health officials reported 827 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number reported in a single day in the state, and the second time in the last week the state has reported 800 or more confirmed cases in a single day.

DOH also reported eight additional deaths, the most reported in a single day since Sept. 1.

The seven-day average of confirmed daily cases by the date they were reported reached 633. The seven-day average was 88 on Sept. 12.

Over half of the cases came from either Bernalillo County (292) or Doña Ana County (172). The number of cases in Doña Ana County was a new record—the previous record of 146 cases in a single day was set just five days ago. The 292 new cases in Bernalillo County was the second-most in a single day—the record is 303 cases on Oct. 15. Bernalillo County has reported 100 or more cases every day for the last two weeks, including on weekends, when results are typically lower.

Santa Fe County reported 64 new cases, a record for that county. Other counties with 20 or more cases were: Eddy County (42), Lea County (36), Curry County (28), Chaves County (27), San Juan County (25) and Sandoval County (22).

In all, 24 of the state’s 33 counties had at least one newly reported case on Wednesday, as did three detention centers which house state inmates or those held by federal agencies.

DOH provided some details from the eight newly reported deaths.

A male in his 80s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 90s from Chaves County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of Heartfelt Manor Assisted Living in Roswell.
A female in her 70s from Curry County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 80s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of Welbrook Senior Living in Las Cruces.
A male in his 40s from Grant County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 60s from Luna County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 70s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and was a resident of the Kingston Residence of Santa Fe facility.

As usual, DOH did not disclose which underlying conditions any of the deceased had, only if one was present. According to the latest state epidemiology report, the most common underlying condition among those who have died in New Mexico so far is cardiovascular disease, followed by diabetes and hypertension. Some who died had multiple conditions.

The number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 dropped to 202, three lower than reported on Tuesday. This could include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized in other states.

DOH said 80 percent of adult general hospital beds were occupied as of Wednesday, including 71 percent of adult ICU beds.

DOH has found 38,715 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and reported 950 deaths related to the disease.

Of the total cases, 20,332 are designated as recovered by DOH, an increase of 167 since Tuesday.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page showed 1,078,087 tests have been processed as of Wednesday, an increase of 7,606 tests since Tuesday.

The test positivity rate of the test results announced on Tuesday was 10.87 percent. DOH uses the date the specimen was collected for its calculation of test positivity rate, which can lag for several days because of differences in how fast labs process and report totals for tests. The seven-day average by the state marker was 6.5 percent as of Oct. 18.

DOH provided the total number of newly reported cases by county

292 new cases in Bernalillo County
27 new cases in Chaves County
13 new cases in Cibola County
28 new cases in Curry County
172 new cases in Doña Ana County
42 new cases in Eddy County
3 new cases in Grant County
1 new case in Guadalupe County
36 new cases in Lea County
6 new cases in Lincoln County
13 new cases in Luna County
10 new cases in McKinley County
16 new cases in Otero County
2 new cases in Quay County
3 new cases in Rio Arriba County
10 new cases in Roosevelt County
22 new cases in Sandoval County
25 new cases in San Juan County
1 new case in San Miguel County
64 new cases in Santa Fe County
4 new cases in Sierra County
3 new cases in Socorro County
6 new cases in Taos County
16 new cases in Valencia County
9 new cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the Cibola County Correctional Center
2 new cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility
1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Lea County Correctional Facility

DOH also provided the total number of cases by county, including Wednesday’s numbers.

Eight previously reported cases were identified as duplicates (two in Bernalillo County, two in Chaves County and one in each of Doña Ana, Grant, San Juan and Santa Fe counties). These have been corrected and removed from the totals.

Bernalillo County: 9,503
Catron County: 9
Chaves County: 1,816
Cibola County: 520
Colfax County: 41
Curry County: 1,367
De Baca County: 1
Doña Ana County: 5,073
Eddy County: 1,256
Grant County: 171
Guadalupe County: 38
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 112
Lea County: 1,893
Lincoln County: 315
Los Alamos County: 40
Luna County: 661
McKinley County: 4,502
Mora County: 14
Otero County: 411
Quay County: 95
Rio Arriba County: 460
Roosevelt County: 402
Sandoval County: 1,772
San Juan County: 3,653
San Miguel County: 151
Santa Fe County: 1,474
Sierra County: 80
Socorro County: 191
Taos County: 181
Torrance County: 93
Union County: 39
Valencia County: 803

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

Cibola County Correctional Center: 340
Otero County Prison Facility: 340
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: 41
Lea County Correctional Facility: 103
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: 45
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 57 long-term care facilities, three more than reported on Tuesday: