New Mexico’s governor says new restrictions coming as virus cases easily exceed 500, deaths hit 11

SANTA FE, New Mexico — Fifty-one additional residents in New Mexico have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 543 cases, officials announced Saturday.

Another death was also reported, a man in his 60s from McKinley County, raising the state's fatality total from the virus to eleven.

The majority of the new cases reported Saturday were in Bernalillo County, which is home to New Mexico’s most populous city: Albuquerque. A nursing home facility there was responsible for 13 of the county's 23 additional cases.

Bernalillo easily leads the state as the most infected county with 225 confirmed cases as of Saturday.

None of the new cases occurred in the Las Cruces area, with Doña Ana County holding its case count at 23.

As the state easily exceeded 500 confirmed cases Saturday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is signaling that she will be extending her health orders that limit business in the state.

"We're going to do metering. What does that mean? It means we've got a formula that we'll announce Monday that says, for example, in big box stores, for example, you can only have this many employees and you can only have this percentage in the store at any time, based on what your fire marshal capacity is," the governor said.

In the meantime, Lujan Grisham said she has one simple message for New Mexicans this weekend: "stay home."