Doña Ana County has half of all new virus deaths in state – ties record with 7 of 14 fatalities

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Doña Ana County tied a pandemic record with seven more coronavirus deaths reported Tuesday, which was half of the 14 added deaths occurring across all of New Mexico.

The last time the county saw that many Covid-19 deaths was five days ago on Nov. 5.

Health officials said Tuesday's additional fatalities took the state's death toll to 1,144, with the county's rising to 113. There have been 40 virus deaths in Doña Ana County in just the last dozen days.

The latest Doña Ana victims included two men in their 40s, a man in his 50s, two women in their 60s, a woman in her 70s and another woman in her 80s; all seven victims were hospitalized at the time of their deaths.

New Mexico also saw 1,266 new virus cases on Tuesday, with a whopping 222 of those from Doña Ana County. The cumulative state case count reached 57,547 - with more than 14% of those being reported over the last several days - while the county's caseload total hit 8,655.

KOB-TV in Albuquerque reported there was a 10.1% positivity result of the tests analyzed in Tuesday's report from the state, while the seven-day rolling average for positivity stands at more than 9%.

The state also indicated that 425 people were currently hospitalized for Covid-19 treatment.

Top medical officers for some of New Mexico’s largest hospital systems told the Associated Press that they are now at or above normal capacity as the virus pandemic surges across the state.

They said they’re seeing the strain on staff and that the current pace of caring for increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients and those hospitalized for other illnesses and trauma will be unsustainable over the long-term.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said she will likely impose stricter mandates this week as health officials warned about the potential for increased spread with the holiday season approaching. Lujan Grisham and others have pleaded with people to abide by the state’s mask mandate and to stay home as much as possible and avoid social contact.

Those who ignore the public health orders are subject to criminal and civil penalties, including but not limited to misdemeanor citations and fines of up to $5,000. The New Mexico State Police said it has issued 61 citations since the order went into effect.

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. (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)