New Mexico & Doña Ana County shatter daily records for virus cases; 9th death at Las Cruces nursing home

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — New Mexico and Doña Ana County both shattered previous records for confirmed Covid-19 cases amid fears the state is experiencing a second wave of the deadly virus, health officials said Wednesday.

Health leaders reported that the state recorded 577 new single-day coronavirus cases. That breaks last week’s record for the state when it recorded 488 new cases in a single day.

Of those 577 new daily infections, 108 were in Doña Ana County which also also shattered its previous single-day tally of 85 set on July 6. Doña Ana was second only to Bernalillo County (Albuquerque metro), which had 199 new cases and also set a daily record.

New Mexico has now had a total of 34,290 Covid-19 cases, with Doña Ana County recording 4,267.

The state Department of Health on Wednesday also reported three additional deaths in New Mexico related to Covid-19. One of those deaths involved a man in his 90s who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Las Cruces; it was the 9th resident death at that facility.

The number of deaths of New Mexicans related to Covid-19 is now at 921, with 64 of those fatalities from Doña Ana County.

Wednesday's record case count comes in the wake of Gov. Michele Lujan Grisham announcing that she will renew public health restrictions and warned that more stringent rules could be imposed because of a rise in cases.

New rules taking effect on Friday will limit gatherings to five people or less, expand the quarantine rules for visitors from states deemed high-risk, reduce hotel capacities, and set a 10 p.m. closing time for food or drink establishments serving alcohol.

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.