coronavirus

387 cases reported of COVID-19 Thursday with three related deaths

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The state reported 387 cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths related to the disease. Bernalillo County reported 101 cases. Other counties with double digit numbers include: Curry County, with 65; Dona Ana County, with 57; Chaves County with 25; Santa Fe County with 20; Eddy County with 14; Sandoval County with 14 and Lea County with 10. New Mexico has now had a total of 31,756 COVID-19 cases. 

The three additional deaths brings the total number of deaths to 899. The state Department of Health provided the following information about the three deaths related to the disease:

A female in her 50s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.A female in her 90s from Eddy County who was a resident of the Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad.A female in her 70s from Luna County who was hospitalized.

coronavirus

Number of people hospitalized up 30 percent in one week, state announced 227 new cases Thursday

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The state announced 227 additional cases of COVID-19 and five new related deaths during a news conference. The five additional deaths related to the disease brings that number to 882 total. The state Department of Health reported only the following information provided below on the five mortalities related to the disease. A female in her 30s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.A male in his 70s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions.A female in her 70s from Eddy County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad.A male in his 20s from Rio Arriba County who had underlying conditions.A male in his 60s from Santa Fe 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.

coronavirus

178 cases of COVID-19 in NM reported Tuesday and two deaths in Eddy County

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The state Department of Health announced 178 additional cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and two related deaths. This brought the number of total cases to 29,157. There are 80 individuals who were currently hospitalized. That is an increase of four since Monday. Of those who were hospitalized, 14 were on ventilators, Human Services Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase said during a webinar Tuesday.

coronavirus

A fourth straight day of more than 200 cases of COVID-19 Saturday

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For the fourth day in a row the state announced more than 200 cases of COVID-19. The state Department of Health reported 206 cases Saturday of the disease and five additional deaths related to the respiratory illness. DOH has now found 28,692 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.The number of deaths of New Mexico residents related to COVID-19 is now at 870. The state provided only the minimal information listed below regarding the deceased on Saturday:

A male in his 80s from Chaves County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.A male in his 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized.A male in his 60s from McKinley County who had underlying conditions.A male in his 80s from Sandoval County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Rio Rancho Center facility.A female in her 50s from San Juan County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. There were seven counties that reported double digit numbers Saturday.

coronavirus

100 new cases and 3 additional deaths related to COVID-19

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On Saturday, the state Department of Health announced 100 additional cases of COVID-19 and three additional related deaths. Doña Ana County had the highest increase in cases, with 19. The other counties with double digit numbers were Bernalillo, with 14 additional cases, and Chaves, with 11 additional cases. The three additional mortalities were all men. One male in his 60s had been hospitalized and had underlying conditions and was a resident of Camino Healthcare in Albuquerque.

coronavirus

DOH: 139 new cases and two deaths related to COVID-19

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The state Department of Health reported 139 additional cases of COVID-19 and two new related deaths to the disease Saturday. The two deaths were both Bernalillo County residents. One was a male in his 50s who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. He was a resident of Las Palomas Center. The other mortality was a female in her 80s and she was a resident of Spanish Trails Rehabilitation Suites.

Air Quality

Speakers tout NM’s climate leadership, but are quiet on oil and gas production

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A group of local leaders touted New Mexico’s work towards addressing climate change during a recent webinar on public health and climate change. But speakers such as Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, and New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) Sec. Kathyleen Kunkel tip-toed around the state’s recent record oil production and its contribution to climate change. Fossil fuel combustion is the chief driver of carbon dioxide emissions that are causing climate change. While many states have begun transitioning to renewable energy sources to replace coal, oil and natural gas, New Mexico is the only state to adopt a 100 percent clean energy mandate while also producing record levels of oil. 

“For the [Gov. Michelle] Lujan Grisham administration, environmental issues are public health priorities,” Kunkel said in her remarks, adding that DOH is part of the governor’s climate change task force.

coronavirus

Uptick in cases after decline

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After a decline in case numbers, the state reported an uptick in COVID-19 with 205 new cases Wednesday. DOH also announced five additional deaths Wednesday, which brings the mortalities related to COVID-19 to 755. One of those deaths was a man in his 100s from Sandoval County. He had underlying conditions and was a resident of Rio Rancho Center.  The following is the information DOH provided on the other four mortalities:

A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Las Palomas Center in Albuquerque.A female in her 40s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.A male in his 70s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.A male in his 70s from Sandoval County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Rio Rancho Center in Rio Rancho.

ACLU of New Mexico

Questions on COVID-19 among migrant detainees

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When the state Department of Health reported a two-day spike in COVID-19 at Cibola County Correctional Center late last month, activists and lawyers who work with detained migrants didn’t know how many had tested positive. The Milan facility, run by a private company called CoreCivic, also houses federal prisoners under U.S. Marshals Service, as well as county prisoners. “We have one of the largest immigration detention systems in the world,” said Rebekah Entralgo, media advocacy specialist for the California organization Freedom for Immigrants which works with detainees. And she said by phone that the private companies that run detention centers “thrive off secrecy.”

Allegra Love, executive director of Santa Fe Dreamers Project, which provides free legal services to immigrants, said her impression is that the migrant population at the Cibola facility is “low.”

“That information is almost impossible to get and CoreCivic isn’t compelled to tell us daily count numbers,” Love said. New Mexico’s congressional delegation sent a letter to CoreCivic last week because of the recent spike in COVID-19 at the multi-use detention center.

coronavirus

255 new COVID-19 cases in NM including uptick in McKinley County

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The state Department of Health announced Thursday 255 additional COVID-19 cases which includes a new uptick in cases in McKinley County. McKinley County, which has grappled with one of the highest numbers of cases of COVID-19 in the state, had eight cases Wednesday and low double digit numbers Monday and Tuesday but the county had 35 additional cases Thursday. Only Bernalillo County, with 63 new cases, had a higher total, but Bernalillo County has a population that is nearly 10 times larger. The newly confirmed cases represented 3.6 percent of the 7,026 tests processed since Wednesday. Human Services Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase said in a press conference Thursday that the state aimed to keep that number below 5 percent, while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham hoped it could drop below 3 percent.