New Mexico Reports 161 New COVID-19 Cases and Three More Deaths

New Mexico health officials today reported 161 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 195,615. The health department has designated 176,905 of those cases as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 60 new cases, followed by Sandoval County with 19 and both Doña Ana and San Juan counties with 18. Santa Fe County had the fourth highest number of cases: 14.

Today’s case count tracks with the middle scenario forecast in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s modeling for the state, now published biweekly rather than weekly.

The state also announced three additional deaths, including the 144th death in Santa Fe County: a woman in her 60s who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. Statewide, there have now been 4,010 fatalities. Deaths also track closer to the forecasted middle-case scenario for this week.

As of today, 121 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.*

Currently, 56.6% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 38.8% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 61.4% have had at least one dose and 38.2% are fully inoculated.

The health department’s gating criteria dashboard shows the statewide effective rate of transmission over 10 days to be slightly above the targeted 1.05 (it’s at 1.06), and the state overall is not meeting its goal of 168 daily cases on a seven-day rolling average; that is at 222.

The state’s April 19 epidemiology report indicates all four of New Mexico’s public health regions have growth rates above zero.

The health department’s red-to-green COVID-19 framework will update tomorrow for New Mexico counties, assessing case and test positivity rates over the past two weeks. Counties must meet two benchmarks: a case rate of 8 per 100,000 over the two-week period and a test positivity rate of 5% or lower. Counties meeting neither are considered red and have the most restrictions; those meeting one are yellow. Counties that meet both benchmarks are green and have fewer constrictions and those remaining green for two consecutive biweekly assessments turn turquoise and have the fewest restrictions of all.

Two weeks ago, Santa Fe County maintained its turquoise status, first achieved on March 24, with a case rate of 5.30 and a test positivity rate of 1.57%. SFR has abandoned its napkin math attempts to pinpoint the current status of either, as daily case and test rates as provided by the state have not been “scrutinized” to eliminate duplicates and the like (according to the health department). However, our basic eyeballing of the available data indicates Santa Fe County is likely to maintain turquoise status tomorrow.

As of two weeks ago, there were no red counties, 20 counties in the turquoise category, 10 green and three yellow. Health officials have said they are reassessing the red-to-green framework to consider how to account for vaccination rates as well as decreased testing, with Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase telling SFR two weeks ago that “...one thing we need to do before we can move forward is get most of our counties into the green.” Once there, “we’re looking for ways of keeping our counties in the green.”

Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase will provide a COVID-19 and vaccine update at 1 pm, tomorrow, April 21, which will stream live on New Mexico Human Services Department’s Facebook page and with Spanish language interpreters on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s YouTube page.

New cases

• 60 new cases in Bernalillo County
• 3 new cases in Chaves County
• 1 new case in Curry County
• 18 new cases in Doña Ana County
• 1 new case in Eddy County
• 4 new cases in Grant County
• 1 new case in Luna County
• 5 new cases in McKinley County
• 1 new case in Otero County
• 2 new cases in Quay County
• 4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
• 19 new cases in Sandoval County
• 18 new cases in San Juan County
• 1 new case in San Miguel County
• 14 new cases in Santa Fe County
• 1 new case in Sierra County
• 2 new cases in Socorro County
• 5 new cases in Valencia County
• 1 new case among New Mexico Corrections Department inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County

New fatalities

• a man in his 40s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• a woman in her 60s from McKinley County who had underlying conditions
• a woman in her 60s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and 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:

• Bear Canyon Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
• Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Belen
• Brookdale Valencia in Albuquerque
• Good Samaritan Society – Betty Dare in Alamogordo
• Genesis Healthcare Uptown in Albuquerque
• Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
• New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences
• Princeton Place in Albuquerque
• Skies Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
• White Sands Healthcare in Hobbs

Statewide cases

According to a health department news release, previously reported numbers included 24 cases that have been identified as duplicates (five in Bernalillo County, two in Curry County, five in Doña Ana County, four in Eddy County, two in McKinley County, one in Roosevelt County, two in Sandoval County and three in Valencia 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: 56,141
• Catron County: 89
• Chaves County: 8,839
• Cibola County: 2,854
• Colfax County: 743
• Curry County: 5,072
• De Baca County: 137
• Doña Ana County: 24,383
• Eddy County: 6,746
• Grant County: 1,677
• Guadalupe County: 376
• Harding County: 10
• Hidalgo County: 359
• Lea County: 8,266
• Lincoln County: 1,622
• Los Alamos County: 511
• Luna County: 3,274
• McKinley County: 12,196
• Mora County: 169
• Otero County: 3,740
• Quay County: 435
• Rio Arriba County: 3,550
• Roosevelt County: 1,876
• Sandoval County: 11,729
• San Juan County: 14,159
• San Miguel County: 1,339
• Santa Fe County: 10,015
• Sierra County: 728
• Socorro County: 1,299
• Taos County: 1,648
• Torrance County: 695
• Union County: 247
• Valencia County: 6,580

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

• Cibola County Correctional Center: 446
• Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 444
• Otero County Processing Center: 198
• 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: 293
• Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 251
• Lea County Correctional Facility: 762
• Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 167
• Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 127
• Otero County Prison Facility: 472
• Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 218
• Roswell Correctional Center: 230
• Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 230
• Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
• Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 75

*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.