Huge virus outbreak doubles at Otero County Prison; it accounts for more than half of state’s new cases
CHAPARRAL, New Mexico -- A massive coronavirus outbreak at the Otero County Prison Facility exploded Tuesday as state health officials reported 116 new cases among inmates, more than doubling the number of infections there to date.
New Mexico health leaders said the total case count at the prison has now grown to 228. The Chaparral facility is privately-run by a federal contractor and holds criminal prisoners for both the state and federal governments.
The huge bump in cases comes just one day after officials noted the first prison death of an inmate in his 30s.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has repeatedly criticized the federal entities responsible for overseeing the facility for neglecting preventative safety measures early on during the pandemic that could've prevented the outbreak.
Those 116 new prison cases accounted for the majority of the 227 additional infections reported Tuesday throughout the entire state, as New Mexico exceeded 8,000 cases to date. The state also reported five more deaths to take the fatality total to 367.
Aside from the prison, there remained 92 cases at the adjacent ICE Otero County Processing Center - which was unchanged. There was also no change in infections for Otero County residents, which held steady at 22. The county has had three deaths to date, including the inmate death.
Doña Ana County, which has been on a downward slope recently in its new infection rate continued that trend, as it saw just three new cases on Tuesday. Deaths in the county held at three.
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.
