Why New Mexico health officials say it’s important to test asymptomatic workers
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- The New Mexico Department of Health stresses how important it is to test essential workers for virus, including those without symptoms.
"There are a lot of people out there who are asymptomatic who are contagious," said David Morgan, a spokesman NMDOH.
On Thursday, the state tested 422 essential workers at the department's location on Solano, Morgan said.
"The more asymptomatic people you test, the more you actually find people who are COVID-19 infected," Morgan said.
With a population of more than 2 million people, the state of New Mexico has performed 46,563 COVID-19 tests as of April 23rd, according to the New Mexico Department of Health.
With a population of more than 29 million people, the state of Texas had performed 225,078 COVID-19 tests as of April 23rd, according to the Texas Department of Health.
| State | July 2019 Population (according to the Census) | Number of tests (as of April 23rd) | Tests per capita |
| Texas | 29 million | 225,078 | 8 tests per 1,000 people (.008) |
| New Mexico | 2.1 million | 46,563 | 22 tests per 1,000 people (.022) |
"This isn't about giving ourselves a pat on the back," Morgan said. "This is about being able to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases in our state."
According to the Albuquerque Journal, antibody testing is soon coming to the state. Morgan could not confirm that to ABC-7.
"The jury is still out on the reliability of the various (antibody) test kits that are out there," Morgan. "But all antibody testing would do is guide some of our decision-making as to when to be able to lift bans and when."
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham decided to extend the state's stay-at-home order until May 15th.
“The virus is in every community,” the governor said. “We are not going to be pressured by nuances in other states. We are going to focus on what’s right for New Mexico.”
