January 18, 2021

628 new COVID-19 cases, 26 additional deaths as test numbers drop

Note: Beginning this week, NM Political Report will report on the new number of cases each Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The state updates COVID-19 numbers every day at https://cv.nmhealth.org. The state Department of Health reported 628 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 26 additional deaths related to the disease. DOH has typically reported […]

Matthew Reichbach

Note: Beginning this week, NM Political Report will report on the new number of cases each Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The state updates COVID-19 numbers every day at https://cv.nmhealth.org.

The state Department of Health reported 628 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 26 additional deaths related to the disease.

DOH has typically reported fewer cases on Monday compared to other days of the week, and the number of tests reported since Sunday was much lower than most days.

Bernalillo County had the most newly reported cases on Monday, with 161 cases.

On Monday, the department reported 611 individuals were hospitalized for COVID-19, a decrease of one person since Sunday. This could include those from other states who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized out of state.

DOH provided some information on each of the 26 newly reported deaths.

A female in her 70s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized.
A male in his 70s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions.
A female in her 70s from Chaves County.
A female in her 70s from Cibola County who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Grants.
A male in his 70s from Cibola County who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Grants.
A female in her 80s from Cibola County who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Grants.
A second female in her 80s from Cibola County who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Grants.
A male in his 80s from Cibola County who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Grants.
A female in her 60s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Las Cruces.
A male in his 60s from McKinley County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 70s from McKinley County.
A male in his 70s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A second male in his 70s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Red Rocks Care Center in Gallup.
A female in her 90s from Roosevelt County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Heartland Continuing Care Center in Portales.
A female in her 70s from Sandoval County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 90s from Sandoval County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Retreat Healthcare facility in Rio Rancho.
A male in his 90s from Sandoval County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Retreat Healthcare facility in Rio Rancho.
A second male in his 90s from Sandoval County who was a resident of the Retreat Healthcare facility in Rio Rancho.
A male in his 30s from San Juan County who was hospitalized.
A female in her 60s from San Juan County who was a resident of the Bloomfield Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Bloomfield.
A female in her 70s from San Juan County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 70s from San Juan County who had underlying conditions.
A second male in his 70s from San Juan County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 80s from Sierra County who was a resident of the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences.
A male in his 80s 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 hypertension, followed by diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to the most recently available mortality update. Some of those who died had multiple comorbidities.

DOH has now found 164,263 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and reported 2,958 deaths related to the disease.

Of the confirmed cases, 87,502 were designated as recovered by the department as of Monday, an increase of 1,392 since Sunday.

Gating criteria

The number of daily cases, on a seven-day rolling average by date of specimen collection, dropped to 1,122 as of Jan. 12. The date lags because some labs take longer to process and report tests to the state.

However, the state has also experienced a dramatic drop in the number of tests conducted daily on a seven-day rolling average, with the number dipping below 10,000 to 9,355 as of Jan. 14. The state aims to keep this to at least 5,000 tests daily.

The positivity rate has also dropped to 10.1 percent on a seven-day rolling average, as of Jan. 14. The state aims to keep this at or below 5 percent.

Testing details

DOH announced they had processed 2,163,964 COVID-19 tests as of Monday, 6,446 more than reported on Sunday. The new positive tests made up 9.74 percent of the total new tests.

DOH said two previously reported cases have been identified as duplicates (one in Bernalillo County and one in Santa Fe County) and one previously reported case in Valencia County was determined to be an inmate held by the state Department of Corrections at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility. These have been corrected.

The total number of cases per county, as of Monday, are as follows: