With Doña Ana County virus cases rising, health care workers are increasingly becoming infected

SANTA FE, New Mexico — Data from the New Mexico Health Department shows Covid-19 infections among health care workers in the state have spiked in five counties including Doña Ana.

The word came as the state on Monday reported four new deaths and 124 additional Covid-19 cases.

Total deaths of New Mexico residents is now 400 and the number of cases now stands at 9,062.

17 of the state's new cases tallied Monday were in Doña Ana County, which has seen 17% of all its 587 infections occur in the past five days.

Among those who have tested positive for the virus in rising numbers in Doña Ana County are health care workers, officials indicated.

The largest increase involving health care workers came in Bernalillo County — home to three Covid-19 hub hospitals. San Juan and McKinley counties, which account for about half of the state’s overall cases, also had a surge among health care workers. Like Doña Ana, Sandoval County also had notable increases.

“The increase was completely and totally expected and would normally just be a proportional number of cases,” Human Services Secretary David Scrase told the Albuquerque Journal.

The news comes as intensive care units around the state remain full and nurses call for more protective equipment. The state reported that 183 people are currently hospitalized.

The state's data shows 492 health care workers were diagnosed in the past month, marking a 219% increase from the 154 workers who tested positive previously.

Many hospitals aren’t revealing how many workers have tested positive, making it difficult to know which facilities are having the worst outbreaks.

Eleanor Chavez, executive director of the local chapter of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, noted that infections among health care workers are increasing, not decreasing.

Her union is advocating for numbers of sick workers to be released by hospitals.

Chavez also said supplies of protective equipment should be increased because many nurses and staff have to reuse masks for days at a time.