November 20, 2020

Nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, 23 additional deaths

The state Department of Health reported nearly 3,000 newly found cases of COVID-19 and 23 newly reported deaths related to the disease. Of the new cases, over one-third, 1,005, were from Bernalillo County. Seven other counties had 100 or more cases: Doña Ana County (281), Sandoval County (191), Santa Fe County (170), Valencia County (169), […]

Matthew Reichbach

The state Department of Health reported nearly 3,000 newly found cases of COVID-19 and 23 newly reported deaths related to the disease.

Of the new cases, over one-third, 1,005, were from Bernalillo County. Seven other counties had 100 or more cases: Doña Ana County (281), Sandoval County (191), Santa Fe County (170), Valencia County (169), Chaves County (164), McKinley County (131) and San Juan County (100).

DOH found at least one case in 32 of the state’s 33 counties.

Additionally, state health officials reported two new cases among those held by federal agencies at the Otero County Processing Center and 19 cases among those held by the state Department of Corrections.

DOH reported that 808 individuals were hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Friday, an increase of 34 since Thursday

The department updated its methodology for COVID-19 hospitalizations and, beginning on Monday, began to use data directly from hospitals instead of information from contact tracing. DOH said contact tracing has become more difficult and less reliable as the number of cases has surged.

DOH also provided some information on each of the 23 additional deaths related to COVID-19 announced on Friday.

A female in her 50s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. The individual was a resident of Bear Canyon Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque.
A male in his 50s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 60s 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 second male in his 70s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 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 Palmilla Senior Living in Albuquerque.
A male in his 70s from Chaves County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 60s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
A male in his 70s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A second male in his 70s from McKinley County.
A female in her 70s from Otero County.
A female in her 100s from Rio Arriba County.
A female in her 40s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A second female in her 40s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 60s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 70s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Sandoval County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Retreat Gardens facility in Rio Rancho.
A male in his 80s from Santa Fe County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Kingston Residence of Santa Fe facility.
A female in her 90s from Santa Fe County who was a resident of the Kingston Residence of Santa Fe facility.
A male in his 60s from Socorro County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 50s from Valencia County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 70s from Valencia County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

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.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Rapid Response COVID-19 Watchlist had 257 establishments as of Friday. 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.

DOH has now found 77,098 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and reported 1,325 deaths related to the disease.

Of the confirmed cases, 28,139 are designated as recovered by the department.

Gating criteria

As cases have increased, many the state has moved further away from meeting many of its gating criteria.

The rate of spread—or the number of people that someone with COVID-19 will, on average, spread the disease to—was 1.35 as of Nov. 18, the highest number since late March. The state hopes to keep this at or below 1.05.

The number of daily cases on a seven-day average, by date of specimen collection, was 1,317 as of Nov. 13. This number lags because some labs take longer to process and report results to the state. The peak so far on this was 1,497 daily cases on Nov. 9. The state’s goal is to keep this at or below 168.

The positivity rate is also at an all-time high, reaching 15.9 percent on a seven-day rolling average as of Nov. 19. This is the total number of positive cases per total tests, and the state hopes to keep this at or below 5 percent.

The number of COVID-19 tests per day, on a seven-day rolling average, was 12,191 as of Nov. 19. The peak on this so far was 13,216 tests as of Nov. 17. The state hopes to keep this at or above 5,000—but the high positivity rate means the state would likely need far more tests than are currently processed to fully track COVID-19 in the state.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page said the state has processed 1,433,609 tests as of Friday, 12,812 more than reported on Thursday. The 2,993 tests represented 23.36 percent of the total tests reported.

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

1,005 new cases in Bernalillo County
4 new cases in Catron County
164 new cases in Chaves County
72 new cases in Cibola County
8 new cases in Colfax County
104 new cases in Curry County
2 new cases in De Baca County
281 new cases in Doña Ana County
72 new cases in Eddy County
31 new cases in Grant County
2 new cases in Guadalupe County
3 new cases in Hidalgo County
73 new cases in Lea County
21 new cases in Lincoln County
3 new cases in Los Alamos County
27 new cases in Luna County
131 new cases in McKinley County
2 new cases in Mora County
109 new cases in Otero County
9 new cases in Quay County
61 new cases in Rio Arriba County
50 new cases in Roosevelt County
191 new cases in Sandoval County
100 new cases in San Juan County
12 new cases in San Miguel County
170 new cases in Santa Fe County
7 new cases in Sierra County
22 new cases in Socorro County
47 new cases in Taos County
9 new cases in Torrance County
11 new cases in Union County
169 new cases in Valencia County
2 new cases among individuals being held by federal agencies at the Otero County Processing Center
5 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility
7 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County
4 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County
2 new cases among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Roswell Correctional Center
1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County

DOH also reported the total number of cases by county, including those announced on Friday.

Five cases previously reported by DOH were identified as duplicates (four in Bernalillo County and one in Chaves County), five previously reported cases were not lab confirmed (three in Bernalillo County and two in Doña Ana County) and one previously reported case (from Doña Ana County) was identified as an out-of-state resident. These have been corrected and removed from the totals.

Additionally, one case previously reported as a resident of Cibola County was determined to be an inmate held by the state Department of Corrections at the Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center. This has also been corrected.