November 19, 2020

State reports more than 3,600 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths

New Mexico Department of Health officials announced 3,674 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, blowing past the record-setting 2,897 cases that were reported just Wednesday. Several counties reported new records in single-day increases in cases of the disease. Over a thousand new cases were identified in Bernalillo County alone, and 502 new cases were reported […]

Kendra Chamberlain

New Mexico Department of Health officials announced 3,674 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, blowing past the record-setting 2,897 cases that were reported just Wednesday.

Several counties reported new records in single-day increases in cases of the disease. Over a thousand new cases were identified in Bernalillo County alone, and 502 new cases were reported in Doña Ana County. Three other counties had more than 200 new cases: Sandoval County (270), Santa Fe County (266) and McKinley County (209). Four other counties reported more than 100 new cases: Lea County (156), San Juan County (146), Valencia County (136) and Chaves County (110).

Seventy new cases were identified among inmates held by the New Mexico Corrections Department, and eight new cases were identified among inmates held by the federal government at Cibola County Correctional Center.

DOH also reported 12 new deaths related to COVID-19. A total of 1,302 individuals have died with COVID-19 since March. DOH provided a few details about each of the new deaths:

A male in his 50s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Princeton Place in Albuquerque facility.
A male in his 70s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 90s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of Casa de Oro Center in Las Cruces facility.
A second female in her 90s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 60s from Eddy County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 80s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 50s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 30s from Lea County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 50s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 50s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 90s from San Juan County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Aztec Healthcare in Aztec facility.
A female in her 90s from Valencia County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Belen facility.

DOH does not disclose which underlying condition any of the deceased had, only if one was present before death.

The most common underlying condition for those who died with COVID-19 was diabetes, followed by hypertension and cardiovascular disease, according to the state’s latest mortality update. Some of those who died had multiple comorbidities.

As of Thursday, there are 774 individuals hospitalized for COVID-19 in New Mexico, two fewer than reported Tuesday. Nearly all of those hospitalized are New Mexico residents, according to the latest hospitalization update from DOH.

DOH has designated 27,659 COVID-19 cases recovered.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Rapid Response COVID-19 Watchlist had 264 establishments as of Thursday, an increase of 20 establishments since Wednesday. This includes both workplaces and K-12 public schools with two or more rapid responses for positive COVID-19 tests in the workplace in the previous 14 days. The state Public Education Department conducts rapid responses when a student or students test positive.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page showed 1,420,797 tests have been processed as of Thursday, an increase of 10,964 tests since Wednesday.

The newly reported cases by county are:

1,122 new cases in Bernalillo County
3 new cases in Catron County
110 new cases in Chaves County
84 new cases in Cibola County
9 new cases in Colfax County
85 new cases in Curry County
502 new cases in Doña Ana County
67 new cases in Eddy County
18 new cases in Grant County
4 new cases in Guadalupe County
6 new cases in Hidalgo County
156 new cases in Lea County
28 new cases in Lincoln County
6 new cases in Los Alamos County
54 new cases in Luna County
209 new cases in McKinley County
4 new cases in Mora County
65 new cases in Otero County
8 new cases in Quay County
82 new cases in Rio Arriba County
25 new cases in Roosevelt County
270 new cases in Sandoval County
146 new cases in San Juan County
24 new cases in San Miguel County
266 new case in Santa Fe County
9 new cases in Sierra County
26 new cases in Socorro County
52 new cases in Taos County
5 new cases in Torrance County
21 new cases in Union County
131 new cases in Valencia County
8 new cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the Cibola County Correctional Center
59 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
11 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County

DOH also provided the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic by county, including those reported on Thursday.

Seven previously reported cases were identified as duplicates (three in Bernalillo County, two in Doña Ana County and two in Sandoval County). Three more previously reported cases were not lab confirmed (two in Bernalillo County and one in Los Alamos County). One case that was previously reported among inmates at the Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center was determined to be a resident of Cibola County. These have all been corrected.