Southern New Mexico has deadliest day of pandemic with 6 Doña Ana & 1 Otero fatalities among 11 in state

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Saturday marked Doña Ana County's deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic as southern New Mexico accounted for seven of the state's eleven newly announced Covid-19 deaths.

Doña Ana County recorded a half-dozen of the latest deaths, while an additional fatality occurred in adjacent Otero County.

State health officials identified the southern New Mexico victims as:

• A man in his 40s from Otero County who was hospitalized.
• A woman in her 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A man in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A second man in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A man in his 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A woman in her 80s who was a resident of the Casa del Sol Center senior living facility in Las Cruces.
• A man in his 90s who was also a resident of the Casa del Sol Center senior living facility in Las Cruces.

There have now been 80 deaths to date in Doña Ana County and 14 in Otero County stemming from Covid-related illness, while New Mexico's death toll has reached 1,018.

The record-setting daily death count in Doña Ana County came just one day after New Mexico recorded the state's deadliest day to surpass the 1,000 mark; two of Friday's 13 state deaths also were from Doña Ana County.

Meanwhile, state health officials on Saturday also announced 592 additional Covid-19 cases across New Mexico, with 127 of those new infections happening in Doña Ana County, which was second only to Albuquerque's Bernalillo County at 187.

The state's pandemic case total grew to 46,490, with Doña Ana County accounting for 6,699 of those cases.

There were 354 patients hospitalized for Covid-19 across New Mexico as of Saturday, with state officials indicating 79% of all hospital beds and 77% of all ICU space was occupied between virus and non-virus patients.

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.