New Mexico & Doña Ana County see new virus case highs; county has 3 of state’s 6 deaths to reach 100

SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico health officials are reporting new highs for the Covid-19 daily case count statewide and in Doña Ana County as the state struggles with an ongoing surge.

Cases across the state reported Friday totaled 1,287, bringing the statewide tally to nearly 52,400 infections since the start of the pandemic. Another six deaths were reported and hospitalizations again topped 400.

In Doña Ana County, there were 262 new cases and three of the state's half-dozen fatalities. The county's latest victims included a man in his 40s, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 80s; all three had been hospitalized at the time of their deaths.

Doña Ana County's pandemic case total jumped to 7,887, while the death toll reached the 100 mark.

State officials warned that new records would be continue to be set over the coming weeks as the rate of spread remains high.

“The virus doesn’t stop spreading on its own. And it spreads exponentially, which means: We will see a whole lot more illness and death in our state unless and until New Mexicans turn it around,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted Friday.

She has warned that more restrictions could be imposed as early as next week as infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase.

The latest figures came as the New Mexico Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion issued Friday, wrote that state officials have the power to impose civil penalties when enforcing public health orders that call for businesses to restrict their operations amid a public health emergency.

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.