On Thursday, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced 238 new cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths related to the disease. It’s the eighth consecutive day of 200+ single day increases in cases found by the state Department of Health. New Mexico has now had a total of 14,251 COVID-19 cases. The state has seen 3,068 new cases in the last 14 days, representing a 20 percent increase.
“The trends are frankly not going in the right direction,” Lujan Grisham said during a press briefing Thursday afternoon. “We are starting to see the kind of community spread that is creating spikes across the country and unfortunately they’re creating the same kind of spikes in New Mexico.”
The state processed 6,194 tests since Wednesday, with 3.8 percent of those tests being positive. That’s down from Wednesday’s positive test rate of 6.52 percent. The positive test rate has increased in recent weeks after reaching as low as 2.5 percent in the seven-day average in June, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Bernalillo County saw 97 new cases Thursday, while six counties saw double-digit increases in new cases. Curry County reported a record spike with 21 new cases, representing 8 percent of the state’s total new cases Thursday. Curry County represents about 1 percent of the state’s population.
The six new deaths include two individuals in their 30s, including one healthcare worker. The state has now identified 533 total deaths related to COVID-19.
The new deaths are:
- 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. The individual was a resident of the Spanish Trails Rehabilitation Suites facility in Albuquerque.
- A male in his 70s from Curry County.
- A female in her 30s from McKinley County who was hospitalized.
- A female in her 80s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
- A female in her 30s from San Juan County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
The state did not disclose which underlying condition each person had before their death, only if one was present.
There are currently 154 individuals hospitalized, the same number of individuals as reported yesterday. Lujan Grisham said 32 individuals are now on ventilators. At its peak, the state had 223 people hospitalized for COVID-19 on May 15.
As of Thursday, 6,118 individuals have recovered from COVID-19, an increase of 67 cases since Wednesday.
Testing details
The state’s coronavirus information page said that 395,881 COVID-19 tests have been processed as of Thursday, an increase of 6,194 tests since Wednesday.
Bernalillo County accounted for 40 percent of new cases with 97. Curry, Doña Ana, McKinley, San Juan, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties all saw double-digit increases, ranging from 10 to 21.
- 97 new cases in Bernalillo County
- 4 new cases in Chaves County
- 1 new case in Cibola County
- 20 new cases in Curry County
- 21 new cases in Doña Ana County
- 6 new cases in Eddy County
- 2 new cases in Grant County
- 2 new cases in Hidalgo County
- 7 new cases in Lea County
- 2 new cases in Lincoln County
- 20 new cases in McKinley County
- 2 new cases in Otero County
- 3 new cases in Quay County
- 4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
- 2 new cases in Roosevelt County
- 17 new cases in San Juan County
- 11 new cases Sandoval County
- 10 new cases in Santa Fe County
- 6 new cases in Valencia County
- 1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Otero County Prison Facility
The state also provided the total number of confirmed cases per county, with the number of confirmed cases in detention centers that house state and federal inmates separated from the counties in which they are located. Two previously reported cases (one in McKinley County, one in Sandoval County) were identified as duplicates and two other cases (one in Santa Fe County, one in Valencia County) were not lab confirmed. The county totals for COVID-19 cases, including the newly announced cases and the corrections, are:
- Bernalillo County: 2,816
- Catron County: 2
- Chaves County: 151
- Cibola County: 244
- Colfax County: 9
- Curry County: 227
- Doña Ana County: 1,306
- Eddy County: 122
- Grant County: 29
- Guadalupe County: 20
- Harding County: 1
- Hidalgo County: 64
- Lea County: 230
- Lincoln County: 18
- Los Alamos County: 11
- Luna County: 113
- McKinley County: 3,567
- Otero County: 67
- Quay County: 12
- Rio Arriba County: 128
- Roosevelt County: 76
- Sandoval County: 802
- San Juan County: 2,628
- San Miguel County: 23
- Santa Fe County: 302
- Sierra County: 14
- Socorro County: 61
- Taos County: 51
- Torrance County: 47
- Union County: 8
- Valencia County: 168
DOH reported the numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:
- Cibola County Correctional Center: 2
- Otero County Prison Facility: 275
- Otero County Processing Center: 149
- Torrance County Detention Facility: 43
DOH also reported the 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: 6
- Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 1
- Otero County Prison Facility: 457
- Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
DOH also reported that 23 long-term care and acute care facilities had at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the last 28 days, a decrease of two since Wednesday.
