3 Las Cruces nursing homes among 36 in New Mexico with virus; Doña Ana cases at 442
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Three Las Cruces nursing homes are among about three-dozen across New Mexico with at least one positive case or more of coronavirus among residents or staff, state health officials disclosed Thursday.
Officials said reviews across the state have been ongoing at congregate living and acute care facilities amid the pandemic, with rounds of testing being administered.
The Las Cruces facilities identified with new confirmed virus cases are:
- Casa De Oro Center
- Casa Del Sol Center
- The Village at Northrise
All three senior care centers are part of Genesis Healthcare Inc. and are described by the company as "skilled nursing facilities offering post-hospital, short-term rehabilitation as well as long-term and respite care services."
Dr. Richard Feifer, the chief medical officer for Genesis, indicated there was one confirmed case involving employees at each of the three locations; all were asymptomatic - meaning they didn't show any visible signs of the virus. He added that there were no residents infected following tests conducted on everyone at those facilities.
"We believe it’s better to overreact than under-react in the face of a pandemic," Feifer said, explaining that the facilities have been "extremely stringent on visitation restrictions, use of personal protective equipment and many other precautions" outlined by Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
The infections at those Genesis facilities accounted for all three new Doña Ana County cases reported Thursday, raising the county's case total to 442. There remained only two deaths to date in the Doña Ana County.
Prior to Thursday, only one care facility in Las Cruces had experienced a virus case, Haciendas of Grace Village. The employee there, who was also asymptomatic, has since recovered and been cleared. The CEO of Haciendas initially tried to deny there had been any infection in his facility, which brought a clear rebuke from state officials.
Of the state's current list of infected facilities, nearly a third are located in the Albuquerque, with the Gallup and Farmington areas also comprising significant portions of it.
New Mexico reported an additional 108 coronavirus cases across the state on Thursday, bringing the total to 7,364. A little less than 200 people remained hospitalized and 355 people have died, with six of those deaths being newly reported.
Below you can see county-by-county data for virus cases and deaths across New Mexico. The data comes from Johns Hopkins University, so the numbers may sometimes vary a bit from what's reported by the state health department.
