Southern New Mexico sees 7 more virus deaths, Doña Ana tops 10,000 cases as statewide lockdown starts

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — New Mexico on Monday started its two-week lockdown to run past Thanksgiving as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and hospital administrators look to curb rising Covid-19 infections.

It came as state health officials reported an additional 1,259 virus cases on Monday, bringing the total to nearly 65,500 since the pandemic began. The death toll stands at 1,236, including 21 more deaths reported Monday.

Five of those latest deaths came in southern New Mexico, among them a victim in his 20s, and included:

• A man in his 20s from Luna County who was hospitalized.
• A man in his 40s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A woman in her 60s from Luna County who was hospitalized.
• A second woman in her 60s from Luna County who had underlying conditions.
• A man in his 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.

Those fatalities raised the pandemic death totals to 137 in Doña Ana County and 19 in Luna County. In addition, Doña Ana County ranked second at 203 in new cases Monday, for a cumulative count of 10,015.

Under Monday's latest public health order, people are being asked to stay home and only essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies, big box retailers, hardware stores, auto and bicycle repair shops and other necessary operations will be open. But they are being told to minimize operations and in-person staffing to the greatest extent possible.

Restaurants may provide curbside pickup and delivery services, but on-site dining is prohibited.

Universities are transitioning back to full online classes, while many municipal and state government offices are closed to walk-in requests.

Existing mandates already prohibited gatherings of more than five people and required face coverings in public. Those remain in the new order.

New Mexico has been struggling with high case counts and deaths. On Monday, the number hospitalizations due to the virus surpassed 500, marking a first since the pandemic began.

As part of reimposing the health restrictions, the state has developed a tiered county-by-county system that will be used to establish benchmarks for reopening when the public health order expires Nov. 30. The governor said the system will provide flexibility for counties as they are able to drive down infection rates and prevent community outbreaks.

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.