New Mexico COVID-19 transmission, hospitalizations remain high |

Grim statistics from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic governed today’s weekly update from state health officials, both at the global and local level.

State epidemiologist Dr. Christine Ross provided an overview from the World Health Organization, noting there have been more than 244 million COVID-19 cases worldwide and nearly 5 million deaths. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 45 million cases thus far and more than 736,000 deaths.

“These numbers are staggering,” Ross said. “It’s a very unbelievable public health crisis that we’ve been dealing with.”

While nationally, there are indicators of declining case rates in parts of the country, New Mexico, she said, continues “to sit at an uncomfortable plateau.”

Slide "New Mexico COVID-19 cases by Date of Specimen Collection, Oct. 25, 2021." NMDOH 10.27.21

New Mexico health officials today reported 959 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 272,855. DOH has designated 241,090 of those cases as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 217 new cases, followed by McKinley County with 87 and San Juan County with 77. Santa Fe County had 39 new cases.

The state’s metro region, Ross said, “drives a lot of what we see across the state,” but New Mexico is also seeing a “worrisome case trend” in the western region. The northwest region, she said has an increasing seven-day average and the southwest region also has a high plateau and “what looks like even an increase.” The northeast also is at a bit of a plateau and, in a “welcome reprieve,” the southeast has had a “sharp decline.”

“We’re providing this so we can share situational awareness so people can understand what’s happening in the region where they live,” Ross said.

Slide "Worrisome case trends in western New Mexico" NMDOH 10.27.21

Overall, all of the state’s 33 counties have high—or red—levels of community transmission. Santa Fe County’s case rate for the period of Oct. 12-25, however, is the lowest in the state, 18.4% per 100,000 people, and has the second lowest test positivity rate, 4.01%.

Slide "COVID-19 Community Transmission Levels continue to be high in all of New Mexico." NMDOH 10.27.21

These ongoing cases, combined with what health officials believe may be people facing increased illness due to delayed care during the pandemic, continue to keep the state’s hospitals full. As of today, 389 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.*

Slide "Hospitalizations remain high." NMDOH 10.27.21

Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase noted that modeling indicates an increase in hospitalizations over the next two weeks. The state recently enacted crisis standards of care, which creates “standardized and equitable procedure” for making decisions about rationing care and provides limited legal liability coverage to providers who move to higher levels of practice, among other actions. The state also is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance to hospitals, such as reimbursement for traveling nurses when they are available.

Slide "Hospital relief is NOT in sight." NMDOH 10.27.21

Scrase said the state “may be seeing” a plateau in deaths, although he “personally think[s] it’s too early to tell.” The state announced 15 additional deaths today, including a man in his 20s from Santa Fe County who had been hospitalized; there have now been 170 fatalities in Santa Fe County and 5,027 statewide.

Health officials continue to urge those New Mexicans who remain unvaccinated to see out vaccines. According to the weekly vaccination report, between Sept. 27 and Oct. 25, 72.8% of cases were among those who are not fully vaccinated, as were 77.4% of hospitalizations and 91.9% of deaths.

“We continue to slowly increase our vaccination rate, which is very important,” Deputy DOH Secretary Dr. Laura Parajón said. “Unfortunately, there are still COVID cases because there is still a portion of New Mexicans who are not vaccinated.”

Currently, 81.9% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 72.3% are fully vaccinated. Among that demographic, 8.2% have had a booster shot. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 62.4% people have had at least one dose and 54.2% are fully inoculated. In Santa Fe County, among those 18 years and older, 92.8% have had at least one dose and 82.3% are fully vaccinated.

Slide "NM COVID-19 vaccination rates." NMDOH 10.27.21

All three COVID-19 vaccines are now available in booster shot form. Recipients of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may now receive boosters after six months or more after completing their initial series if they: are 65 years and older; 18 years or older and live in long-term care settings; 18 years or older and have underlying medical conditions; 18 years or older an work or live in high-risk settings. For New Mexicans who received the J & J vaccine, booster shots are also recommended for those who are 18 and older and who were vaccinated two or more months ago. New Mexico has administered 125,843 booster doses since Aug. 1. People can also “mix and match” vaccines.

Slide "Booster does administrative progress." NMDOH 10.27.21

Parajón said officials are now readying for availability of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11, which received a recommendation from a Food and Drug Administration committee yesterday and will next need approval from the FDA and CDC. Once the federal government approves the vaccine, New Mexico’s Medical Advisory Committee will review the data and then the state will begin offering the vaccine to that age group, most likely by early next month.

“We are super excited for all those parents out there who are waiting for kids to get a vaccine,” Parajón said. The state has created a new electronic consent form for child vaccinations, which is available online now.

Slide "New electronic consent form for child vaccinations is available at VaccineNm.org/kids" Oct. 25, 2021." NMDOH 10.27.21

While booster shots, prospective vaccines for kids 5-11 and ongoing mitigation efforts such as the indoor mask mandate may help reduce infections, health officials acknowledged today that the highly transmissible Delta variant and the relentless siege of the pandemic—today was day 595—continue to take a toll. New Mexico’s ongoing struggle with cases may be attributable to waning immunity, to the highly transmissible Delta variant, to human behavior, or some combination of the three, but the end result remains the same:

“This is a hard time,” Ross said. “We are all struggling. We would like to put this pandemic behind us and in the past but we’re not there yet. We all continue to struggle with this global pandemic, but we’re thrilled that we do have effective countermeasures, and certainly vaccination is our number one countermeasure.”

Slide "Delta is >2x more infectious; we need to be >2x more careful." NMDOH 10.27.21

New cases

217 new cases in Bernalillo County
4 new cases in Catron County
40 new cases in Chaves County
17 new cases in Cibola County
9 new cases in Colfax County
19 new cases in Curry County
3 new cases in De Baca County
49 new cases in Doña Ana County
24 new cases in Eddy County
69 new cases in Grant County
3 new cases in Hidalgo County
30 new cases in Lea County
25 new cases in Lincoln County
1 new case in Los Alamos County
15 new cases in Luna County
87 new cases in McKinley County
1 new case in Mora County
25 new cases in Otero County
10 new cases in Quay County
44 new cases in Rio Arriba County
16 new cases in Roosevelt County
64 new cases in Sandoval County
77 new cases in San Juan County
6 new cases in San Miguel County
39 new cases in Santa Fe County
7 new cases in Sierra County
7 new cases in Socorro County
22 new cases in Taos County
4 new cases in Torrance County
25 new cases in Valencia County

New fatalities

A male in his 40s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A male in his 60s from Bernalillo County
A female in her 70s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County
A male in his 30s from Cibola County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A male in his 90s from Grant County who was hospitalized
A male in his 60s from Luna County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A female in her 50s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A female in her 70s from Otero County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A second female in her 70s from Otero County who was hospitalized
A male in his 40s from San Juan County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
A male in his 20s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized
A male in his 50s from Taos County who was hospitalized
A female in her 80s from Valencia County who was hospitalized
A male in his 80s from Valencia 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:

Adobe Assisted Living in Las Cruces
Albuquerque Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
The Aristocrat Assisted Living Center in Las Cruces
Aspen Ridge Lodge Retirement in Los Alamos
Aztec Healthcare in Aztec
BeeHive Homes of Four Hills in Albuquerque
BeeHive Homes Gallup
Bellamah House in Albuquerque
Bloomfield Nursing and Rehabilitation in Bloomfield
The Bridge of Farmington in Farmington
Calibre Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Las Cruces
Camino Retirement Apartments in Albuquerque
Canyon Transitional Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
Care Free Assisted Living in Albuquerque
Casa Arena Blanca Nursing Center in Alamogordo
Casa de la Reina Assisted Living in Albuquerque
Casa Maria Health Care Center in Roswell
Casa Real in Santa Fe
Cedar Ridge Inn in Farmington
Crane’s Roost Care Home in Aztec
Desert Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Hobbs
Elmcroft of Quintessence in Albuquerque
Fairwinds Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
Fort Bayard Medical Center in Santa Clara
Genesis Silver City Care Center in Silver City
Gingrich Home For the Elderly in Farmington
Good Samaritan Society – Betty Dare in Alamogordo
Good Samaritan Society Las Cruces
Good Samaritan Society - Las Cruces Village Las Cruces
Haciendas at Grace Village in Las Cruces
Landmark at Desert Gardens in Hobbs
Las Cruces Post Acute and Rehabilitation Center of Cascadia (Welbrook Senior Living) in Las Cruces
Mission Arch Center in Roswell
MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Albuquerque
MorningStar Memory Care at North Ridge in Albuquerque
The Neighborhood Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
Palmilla Senior Living in Albuquerque
Princeton Place in Albuquerque
Red Rocks Care Center in Gallup
The Rehabilitation Center of Albuquerque
The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
Santa Fe Care Center in Santa Fe
Seniorcare LLC - Raven House in Albuquerque
Sierra Health Care Center in Truth or Consequences
Sombrillo Nursing Home in Los Alamos
Vida Encantada Nursing & Rehabilitation in Las Vegas
Village at Northrise - Desert Willow in Las Cruces
Welbrook Transitional Rehabilitation in Farmington
Willow Manor Residential Care Center in Deming

Statewide cases

County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

Bernalillo County: 75,987
Catron County: 213
Chaves County: 12,695
Cibola County: 3,676
Colfax County: 1,323
Curry County: 7,372
De Baca County: 241
Doña Ana County: 30,149
Eddy County: 10,888
Grant County: 2,617
Guadalupe County: 610
Harding County: 43
Hidalgo County: 576
Lea County: 13,565
Lincoln County: 2,964
Los Alamos County: 794
Luna County: 3,990
McKinley County: 14,938
Mora County: 369
Otero County: 6,707
Quay County: 1,030
Rio Arriba County: 4,896
Roosevelt County: 2,731
Sandoval County: 16,104
San Juan County: 21,486
San Miguel County: 2,601
Santa Fe County: 13,157
Sierra County: 1,058
Socorro County: 1,723
Taos County: 2,411
Torrance County: 1,412
Union County: 351
Valencia County: 9,209

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

Cibola County Correctional Center: 455
Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 547
Otero County Processing Center: 564
Torrance County Detention Facility: 356

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

Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 331
Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 257
Lea County Correctional Facility: 765
Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 176
Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 130
Otero County Prison Facility: 473
Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 224
Roswell Correctional Center: 229
Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 235
Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 76

*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.

New Mexico COVID-19 transmission, hospitalizations remain high

Santa Fe County had its 170th death: a man in his 20s