Doña Ana County sees 25% of New Mexico’s latest virus deaths, while cases show signs of slowing

SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico on Saturday reported over 1,800 additional known Covid-19 cases on Saturday as the coronavirus virus showed signs of slowing over the past two weeks.

The state reported 1,803 additional known cases and 24 additional deaths, increasing the state's totals to 118,358 cases and 1,913 deaths, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard.

Doña Ana County's death toll reached 232, as it accounted for a half-dozen, or 25%, of the state's deaths reported Saturday, including:

• A woman in her 60s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A woman in her 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A woman in her 80s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions.
• A woman in her 90s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A man in his 70s who was a resident of Casa de Oro Center in Las Cruces.
• A second man in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.

Data from Johns Hopkins University and The Covid Tracking Project, seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases and Covid-19 testing positivity declined over the past two weeks, though the rolling average of new daily deaths increased slightly.

The daily case rolling average dropped from 2,107.7 to 1,661.4 as the daily deaths average inched upward from 25.6 to 26.1, and the testing positivity average declined from 16.7% to 13.4%.

New cases and testing positivity are considered leading indicators in the outbreak that can show trends later seen in hospitalizations and deaths.

New Mexico ranks 12th among U.S. states for the most new cases per capita in the past 14 days.

Bernalillo County, which is the Albuquerque metro area, had 573 of the additional cases reported Saturday. Sandoval and Lea counties each had more than 100 cases. Doña Ana, McKinley and Santa Fe counties each had more than 90.

Doña Ana County's infection total to date grew to 15,301.

The actual number of New Mexico infections is thought to be far higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies show people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

Meantime, the state has announced a delay in the return to in-person learning after schools' winter break, in an effort to help mitigate what may be a post-holiday surge in Covid-19 cases and to minimize the risk of exposure in in-person learning environments during that time.

No in-person learning will be permitted during the weeks of Jan, 4 and Jan, 11, public education officials said.

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.