October 28, 2020

663 new COVID-19 cases, 11 new deaths as hospitalizations continue to rise

On Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported 663 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths related to the disease. The number of deaths is the most in a single day since May 21. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 also continued to increase, hitting 313 as of Wednesday. This could include those from out of […]

Matthew Reichbach

On Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported 663 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths related to the disease.

The number of deaths is the most in a single day since May 21.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 also continued to increase, hitting 313 as of Wednesday. This could include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized out of state. The state’s epidemiology report from earlier this week showed that the number of out-of-state residents in New Mexico hospitals remains very low and last peaked in June.

DOH also said that 78 percent of general beds and 79 percent of ICU beds are currently occupied. This accounts for those hospitalized for all reasons, not just COVID-19.

DOH provided some details on each of the 11 newly reported deaths.

A female in her 50s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 70s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 90s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of Spanish Trails Rehabilitation Suites in Albuquerque.
A male in his 70s from Curry County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized.
A male in his 50s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
A male in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 90s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 80s from Roosevelt County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

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 have died had multiple conditions.

The 663 confirmed cases came out of 11,767 reported tests results, a day after the state reported a very low number of test results, likely because of the winter storm hitting the state.

The number of cases grew the most in Bernalillo County, where health officials reported 273 new cases. Doña Ana County, which had the most new cases in multiple days this week, had 97 new cases.

Santa Fe County had 46 new cases and Eddy County had 44 new cases. In all, DOH reported at least one case in 26 of the state’s 33 counties (including one case in De Baca County, just the second case in the county).

DOH has now found 43,826 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and reported 991 deaths related to the disease.

Of the confirmed cases, 21,224 are designated as recovered by the department as of Wednesday, an increase of 161 from Tuesday.

Testing details

As of Wednesday, 1,141,186 total tests have been processed according to its state coronavirus information page.

The 663 confirmed cases represent 5.63 percent of the 11,767 tests processed since Tuesday. DOH uses a different calculation, by the date the specimen is collected instead of when results are processed, for its seven-day rolling average of cases. That can lag several days since some labs can take longer to process tests and report results to the state.

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

273 new cases in Bernalillo County
19 new cases in Chaves County
6 new cases in Cibola County
1 new case in Colfax County
13 new cases in Curry County
1 new case in De Baca County
97 new cases in Doña Ana County
44 new cases in Eddy County
23 new cases in Lea County
7 new cases in Lincoln County
3 new cases in Los Alamos County
17 new cases in Luna County
22 new cases in McKinley County
4 new cases in Otero County
1 new case in Quay County
10 new cases in Rio Arriba County
11 new cases in Roosevelt County
19 new cases in Sandoval County
9 new cases in San Juan County
4 new cases in San Miguel County
46 new cases in Santa Fe County
1 new case in Sierra County
6 new cases in Socorro County
4 new cases in Taos County
1 new case in Union County
19 new cases in Valencia County
2 new cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility

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

DOH identified three previously reported cases as duplicates (one in each of Bernalillo, Lea and Valencia counties) and three previously reported cases in Bernalillo County as not being lab confirmed. These all have been corrected and removed from the counties’ totals.

Bernalillo County: 10,857
Catron County: 10
Chaves County: 2,035
Cibola County: 571
Colfax County: 45
Curry County: 1,568
De Baca County: 2
Doña Ana County: 6,078
Eddy County: 1,481
Grant County: 187
Guadalupe County: 42
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 117
Lea County: 2,110
Lincoln County: 380
Los Alamos County: 47
Luna County: 976
McKinley County: 4,649
Mora County: 14
Otero County: 513
Quay County: 102
Rio Arriba County: 501
Roosevelt County: 463
Sandoval County: 2,000
San Juan County: 3,788
San Miguel County: 175
Santa Fe County: 1,740
Sierra County: 110
Socorro County: 237
Taos County: 228
Torrance County: 99
Union County: 40
Valencia County: 953

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

Cibola County Correctional Center: 348
Otero County Prison Facility: 390
Otero County Processing Center: 187
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: 90
Lea County Correctional Facility: 110
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: 55
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 67 long-term care facilities, a decrease of one since Tuesday.