New Mexico Reports 209 New COVID-19 Cases and 19 Deaths

Santa Fe County appears to be poised to turn green tomorrow when the health department reassesses counties for case and test positivity rates over the last 14 days.

Under the state's red-to-green public health law, counties with fewer than eight cases per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of less than 5% are classified as green and allowed larger business capacities and other activities. For instance, indoor dining would increase from 33% to 50% capacity.

Two weeks ago, Santa Fe County remained in the yellow category, with a positivity rate of 2.1% but just shy of the case rate.

SFR's napkin math (which should be taken with a grain of salt) would indicate Santa Fe County will meet both criteria tomorrow with a case rate just over 7 cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days, based on the daily raw reporting from the last two weeks. Santa Fe County's test positivity rate appears to be in the area of 1.5%. Fingers crossed.

Across the state, vaccinations appear to be increasingly helping to lower cases, according to today's weekly modeling report from Los Alamos National Laboratory, which says vaccinations are lowering daily incidence by more than 60%. The report also says that flattening out of lowering cases is most likely due to added activities under the state's red-to-green framework versus new variants.

New Mexico health officials today reported 209 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 187,238. The state has designated 158,616 of those cases as recovered. According to today's weekly epidemiology report, today's case numbers lie within the middle-case outlook forecast.

Bernalillo County had 85 new cases, followed by Doña Ana County with 37 and Sandoval and Santa Fe counties with 12.

The state also announced 19 additional deaths. According to the health department, today's deaths include 14 death certificates it received yesterday from the state of Texas for deaths that occurred between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20. There have now been 3,830 total fatalities.

As of today, 128 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.*

New cases

• 85 new cases in Bernalillo County
• 1 new case in Cibola County
• 6 new cases in Curry County
• 37 new cases in Doña Ana County
• 6 new cases in Eddy County
• 3 new cases in Grant County
• 2 new cases in Lea County
• 2 new cases in Lincoln County
• 2 new cases in Luna County
• 6 new cases in McKinley County
• 12 new cases in Otero County
• 5 new cases in Rio Arriba County
• 12 new cases in Sandoval County
• 3 new cases in San Juan County
• 2 new cases in San Miguel County
• 12 new cases in Santa Fe County
• 1 new case in Taos County
• 3 new cases in Union County
• 9 new cases in Valencia County

New fatalities

• A male in his 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized
• A second male in his 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 70s from De Baca County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 70s from Doña Ana County
• A second male in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized
• A third male in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized
• A female in her 50s from Eddy County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 50s from Eddy County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 50s from Lea County
• A female in her 60s from Lea County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 60s from Lea County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 70s from Lea County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 80s from Lea County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 50s from Luna County who was hospitalized
• A second male in his 50s from Luna County who was hospitalized
• A third male in his 50s from Luna County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 70s from Otero County who had underlying conditions
• A male in his 30s from Valencia County who was hospitalized

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:

• Albuquerque Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
• The Aristocrat Assisted Living Center in Alamogordo
• BeeHive Homes Edgewood
• BeeHive Homes Taylor Ranch in Albuquerque
• BeeHive
• Calibre Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Las Cruces
• Casa Arena Blanca Nursing Center in Alamogordo
• Casa del Sol Center in Las Cruces
• Clovis Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Clovis
• Good Life Senior Living in Carlsbad
• Good Samaritan Society – Betty Dare in Alamogordo
• La Posada Assisted Living Center in Las Cruces
• Ladera Center in Albuquerque
• Laguna Rainbow Care Center in Casa Blanca
• Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
• Mission Arch Center in Roswell
• MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Albuquerque
• The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
• Princeton Place in Albuquerque
• Sandia Senior Suites Assisted Living in Albuquerque
• Santa Fe Care Center in Santa Fe
• Senior Living Systems in Los Lunas
• Silver City Care Center in Silver City
• Sombrillo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Los Alamos
• The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
• The Suites at Rio Vista in Rio Rancho
• The Woodmark at Uptown in Albuquerque
• Vida Encantada Nursing & Rehabilitation in Las Vegas
• Welbrook Senior Living in Las Cruces

Statewide cases

According to a health department news release, previously reported numbers included 11 cases that have been identified as duplicates (five in Bernalillo County, one in Cibola County, four in Lea County and one in Roosevelt County)— these have now been corrected. County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

• Bernalillo County: 53,229
• Catron County: 83
• Chaves County: 8,666
• Cibola County: 2,769
• Colfax County: 710
• Curry County: 4,958
• De Baca County: 132
• Doña Ana County: 23,092
• Eddy County: 6,538
• Grant County: 1,523
• Guadalupe County: 364
• Harding County: 8
• Hidalgo County: 350
• Lea County: 8,105
• Lincoln County: 1,559
• Los Alamos County: 486
• Luna County: 3,123
• McKinley County: 12,079
• Mora County: 162
• Otero County: 3,419
• Quay County: 421
• Rio Arriba County: 3,431
• Roosevelt County: 1,842
• Sandoval County: 11,000
• San Juan County: 13,584
• San Miguel County: 1,248
• Santa Fe County: 9,667
• Sierra County: 704
• Socorro County: 1,228
• Taos County: 1,563
• Torrance County: 658
• Union County: 240
• Valencia County: 6,236

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

• Cibola County Correctional Center: 445
• Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 443
• Otero County Processing Center: 197
• Torrance County Detention Facility: 47

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

• Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 288
• Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 251
• Lea County Correctional Facility: 736
• Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 167
• Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 126
• Otero County Prison Facility: 472
• Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 215
• Roswell Correctional Center: 229
• Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 220
• Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
• Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 74

*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.