New Mexico On Track with COVID-19 Efforts

With New Mexico's daily COVID-19 cases continuing to drop and the state meeting nearly all of its gating criteria, will schools begin hybrid learning after Labor Day? Will Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham loosen restrictions when the current health order expires at the end of the month?

Maybe.

"There's a 100% chance I desire to do as much as we can to reopen the economy," Lujan Grisham said today during a weekly COVID-19 news briefing, "and every time the gating criteria is met, I can guarantee you I'm feeling much better." But reopening has "to be really slow and it has to be very smart."

As of now, the gating criteria is mostly being met, with the exception of a new target of 168 daily cases on a seven-day rolling average. The state is close. Today, health officials reported 177 new positive test results for COVID-19, bringing the statewide total thus far to 22,987.

Officials also reported two more deaths today. There have been 697 fatalities. As of today, 128 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, 30 on ventilators. *Details on new cases and fatalities are available at the end of this story.

For another new criteria—test positivity rate—New Mexico is exceeding its target of 5.0% with 2.89%, and receiving national attention for doing so. By way of comparison, neighboring Texas has a 20.4% positivity rate.

Moreover, the state is finally meeting its contact tracing goals, in which the health department is able to isolate people who have tested positive as well as those with whom they have had contact.

"All in all, things look really good," Human Services Secretary David Scrase said. "It's a credit to the behavior of New Mexicans and your diligence. But we can't really move forward unless we all stick with this."

While meeting the gating criteria is positive, Lujan Grisham described the criteria as "a moment in time," and said the next few weeks will be crucial in making decisions such as whether to begin a hybrid education model for students.

"We're moving in the right direction," the governor said, "the next two weeks gives us a great opportunity not only to see how we're doing, but it will also give us an opportunity to see how things are doing in other school districts."

Modeling on school re-openings by Los Alamos National Laboratory last month outlined different scenarios and the potential impact they could have on the state. In response to a question from SFR, the governor said that every time a risk is introduced, particularly in schools given the close indoor contact, cases will go up.

"If we double the cases, then I would push the modeling team to explain to me what we need to do to nip that in the bud quickly," she said.

Scrase echoed the governor's words, noting that when restrictions were lifted in June, cases tripled and overwhelmed the state's ability to effectively do contact tracing, "which is a double injury because it allows the case growth to go even higher," he said.

In setting the new gating criteria for daily case growth over a seven-day rolling average at 168, he said, "we talked about the importance of having room in there for the inevitable case growth; I think what we thought would be acceptable was 25% to 50%." With that said, Scrase added, "less is better. I can tell you for sure, if people take, for example, a school reopening as a cue to get out more, to not have to wear their mask, it will be way worse than that; and I think we have the ability as a society, as a group of New Mexicans, to make it better than that as well."

The state is also keeping an eye on test positivity rates by region, particularly given renewed shortages of testing supplies. The map below shows which counties have higher test positivity rates than others. Red counties in the southeastern part of the state are where "our teams are trying to focus more effort," Scrase said.

In addition to the weekly briefing on COVID-19, the governor and State Personnel Director Pamela Coleman discussed the 2020 census and urged New Mexicans to respond if they haven't already. Coleman said the state set a goal of 60% responsiveness and currently is at 53.7%. "New Mexico receives about $7.8 billion a year based on the last census," Coleman said. "We want to make sure we are encouraging all New Mexicans to take the very simple and easy steps of completing their census in order to become counted in the 2020 census, which will have dramatic effects for the next 10 years…the stakes couldn't be higher."

Overall, while New Mexico remains in a holding pattern throughout August in terms of economic and school re-openings, Lujan Grisham said: "This is good news. We're doing it right. We're showing we can do it right. But we're not there yet…Let's show the country we can attack this virus and push it back, and let's meet as many of our goals—including in-person education and some continued easements—so we have economic success stories to be talking about at our future conferences."

New cases

• 38 new cases in Bernalillo County
• 19 new cases in Chaves County
• 3 new cases in Cibola County
• 6 new cases in Curry County
• 21 new cases in Doña Ana County
• 15 new cases in Eddy County
• 1 new case in Grant County
• 14 new cases in Lea County
• 14 new cases in Lincoln County
• 1 new case in Luna County
• 10 new cases in McKinley County
• 4 new cases in Quay County
• 4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
• 2 new cases in Roosevelt County
• 3 new cases in Sandoval County
• 3 new cases in San Juan County
• 12 new cases in Santa Fe County
• 1 new case in Torrance County
• 5 new cases in Valencia County
• 1 new case among individuals held by federal agencies at the Cibola County Correctional Center

New fatalities

• A female in her 30s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
• A female in her 80s from Rio Arriba County who had underlying conditions.

Congregate facilities

The Department of Health has identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days at the following facilities:

• Advantage Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
• Albuquerque Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
• Bear Canyon Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
• BeeHive Homes of Farmington in Farmington
• Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Belen
• Bonney Family Home in Gallup
• Brookdale Santa Fe in Santa Fe
• Camino Healthcare in Albuquerque
• Casa Arena Blanca Nursing Center in Alamogordo
• Casa Contenta Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
• Casa de Oro Center in Las Cruces
• Casa de Sunview in Albuquerque
• Casa Maria Health Care Center in Roswell
• Casa Real in Santa Fe
• Clayton Nursing and Rehabilitation in Clayton
• Desert Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Hobbs
• Fort Bayard Medical Center in Santa Clara
• GoodLife Senior Living in Carlsbad
• Good Samaritan Society Las Cruces in Las Cruces
• Good Samaritan Society Socorro in Socorro
• Heartfelt Manor in Roswell
• Ladera Center in Albuquerque
• Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
• Las Palomas Center in Albuquerque
• Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington
• Life Spire Assisted Living in Albuquerque
• Little Sisters of the Poor in Gallup
• Lovington Healthcare in Lovington
• McKinley Care Center in Gallup
• The Meadows Home at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas
• Mission Arch Center in Roswell
• Montebello on Academy in Albuquerque
• MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care in Rio Rancho
• The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho
• New Mexico State Veterans’ Home in Truth or Consequences
• North Ridge Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Albuquerque
• Princeton Place in Albuquerque
• Ravenna Assisted Living in Albuquerque
• Red Rocks Care Center in Gallup
• Retirement Ranches in Clovis
• Retreat Healthcare in Rio Rancho
• The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
• Rio Rancho Center in Rio Rancho
• Saint Anthony Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Clovis
• Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Las Cruces
• Sandia Ridge Center in Albuquerque
• Sombrillo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Los Alamos
• Sierra Health Care Center, Inc. in Truth or Consequences
• Sierra Hills Assisted Living in Truth or Consequences
• Sierra Springs Assisted Living in Los Lunas
• Spanish Trails Rehabilitation Suites in Albuquerque
• Sunset Villa Care Center in Roswell
• Welbrook Senior Living Las Cruces in Las Cruces
• Wheatfields Senior Living in Clovis
• White Sands Healthcare in Hobbs
• The Woodmark at Uptown in Albuquerque

Statewide cases

According to a state news release, previously reported numbers included three cases that have been identified as duplicates: one in Bernalillo County, one in Eddy County and one in Lea County. Two cases were not lab confirmed: one in Doña Ana County and one in Roosevelt County.) One case in Doña Ana County has been identified as an out-of-state resident. All have been corrected. County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

• Bernalillo County: 5,264
• Catron County: 5
• Chaves County: 504
• Cibola County: 374
• Colfax County: 18
• Curry County: 575
• Doña Ana County: 2,572
• Eddy County: 350
• Grant County: 72
• Guadalupe County: 32
• Harding County: 1
• Hidalgo County: 90
• Lea County: 876
• Lincoln County: 144
• Los Alamos County: 24
• Luna County: 255
• McKinley County: 4,087
• Mora County: 6
• Otero County: 204
• Quay County: 41
• Rio Arriba County: 323
• Roosevelt County: 169
• Sandoval County: 1,149
• San Juan County: 3,072
• San Miguel County: 46
• Santa Fe County: 672
• Sierra County: 32
• Socorro County: 75
• Taos County: 112
• Torrance County: 62
• Union County: 30
• Valencia County: 446

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

• Cibola County Correctional Center: 314
• Otero County Prison Facility: 280
• Otero County Processing Center: 159
• Torrance County Detention Facility: 44

Cases among people being held by the New Mexico Department of Corrections

• Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 25
• Lea County Correctional Facility: 4
• Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 1
• Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 1
• Otero County Prison Facility: 472
• Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
• Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 4

*Per the health department, hospitalization figures include people who were tested elsewhere but are hospitalized in New Mexico, but don't include people who were tested here but are hospitalized out of state.