October 20, 2020

Nearly 600 new cases of COVID-19, seven deaths

State health officials reported 599 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and seven deaths related to the disease. This is the sixth time in the last week that the state has reported 500 or more cases after not doing so in the previous seven months of the pandemic. Bernalillo County reported 154 new cases of the […]

Kendra Chamberlain

State health officials reported 599 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and seven deaths related to the disease. This is the sixth time in the last week that the state has reported 500 or more cases after not doing so in the previous seven months of the pandemic.

Bernalillo County reported 154 new cases of the disease, while Doña Ana County reported 135 new cases. Eleven other counties reported double-digit increases in cases: Curry County (45), Santa Fe County (33), San Juan County (30), Otero County (29), Chaves County (26), Eddy County (21), Lea County (18), Sandoval County (18), Luna County (17), McKinley County (16) and Valencia County (15).

The state Department of Health also reported one new case among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility and one new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County.

DOH offered the following information about the seven deaths:

A male in his 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A female in her 80s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A second female in her 80s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 60s from Roosevelt County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
A male in his 40s from Santa Fe County who had underlying conditions.
A male in his 80s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and was a resident of the Kingston Residence in Santa Fe.
A female in her 90s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and was a resident of the Kingston Residence in Santa Fe.

DOH did not disclose which underlying condition the man had, only if one was present.

There are 205 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 22 since Monday and the highest number of hospitalizations since May. This number could include those from out of state who were hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized out of state. The peak number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 was 223 on May 15.

New Mexico has reported a total of 37,896 cases of COVID-19 in the state since the start of the pandemic and 942 deaths. As of Tuesday, DOH designated 20,165 COVID-19 cases as recovered, an increase of 164 since Monday.

Testing details

The state coronavirus information page said that the state has processed 1,070,481 tests, an increase of 9,213 since Monday.

DOH reported the number of new cases by county:

154 new cases in Bernalillo County
26 new cases in Chaves County
9 new cases in Cibola County
45 new cases in Curry County
136 new cases in Doña Ana County
21 new cases in Eddy County
1 new case in Grant County
1 new case in Hidalgo County
18 new cases in Lea County
2 new cases in Lincoln County
2 new cases in Los Alamos County
17 new cases in Luna County
16 new cases in McKinley County
29 new cases in Otero County
6 new cases in Quay County
4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
3 new cases in Roosevelt County
18 new cases in Sandoval County
30 new cases in San Juan County
3 new cases in San Miguel County
33 new cases in Santa Fe County
1 new case in Sierra County
5 new cases in Socorro County
1 new case in Taos County
1 new case in Union County
15 new cases in Valencia County
1 new case among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Prison Facility
1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County

DOH also reported the total number of cases by county, including those reported on Tuesday. Two previously reported cases in Bernalillo County were identified as duplicates, and three other cases were not lab confirmed (one in Bernalillo County, one in Chaves County and one in Santa Fe County). These have been corrected.

Bernalillo County: 9,218
Catron County: 9
Chaves County: 1,791
Cibola County: 507
Colfax County: 41
Curry County: 1,338
De Baca County: 1
Doña Ana County: 4,902
Eddy County: 1,214
Grant County: 169
Guadalupe County: 37
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 112
Lea County: 1,855
Lincoln County: 309
Los Alamos County: 40
Luna County: 648
McKinley County: 4,492
Mora County: 14
Otero County: 395
Quay County: 93
Rio Arriba County: 457
Roosevelt County: 392
Sandoval County: 1,748
San Juan County: 3,629
San Miguel County: 150
Santa Fe County: 1,411
Sierra County: 76
Socorro County: 188
Taos County: 175
Torrance County: 93
Union County: 39
Valencia County: 787

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

Cibola County Correctional Center: 331
Otero County Prison Facility: 338
Otero County Processing Center: 181
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: 41
Lea County Correctional Facility: 102
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: 45
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 at 54 long-term care facilities, two more than reported on Monday: