Southern New Mexico accounts for 20% of state’s latest virus cases; new plans to test utility workers
SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Coronavirus cases rose by 102 across the state on Saturday, with new infections in southern New Mexico's Doña Ana and Otero counties accounting for about 20% of that increase.
New Mexico now has 9,621 cases to date and a total of 431 people have died from complications of the virus, with five new deaths reported Saturday - none of those occurring in southern New Mexico.
Just over half of all the state’s cases are in McKinley and San Juan counties in the northwest corner of the state, where a severe outbreak among the Navajo Nation has fueled an ongoing spike. Those two counties also recorded four of the five latest deaths.
Doña Ana County ranks fourth overall in cases behind the two northwest counties and Bernalillo County, which is the Albuquerque metro area. Doña Ana had a dozen new cases recorded on Saturday for a total of 645. However, the county saw no new deaths after doubling its fatality count to six over the past two days.
Hundreds of virus cases have also been documented in detention facility populations in New Mexico, with ten new cases among detainees being reported Saturday at the ICE Otero County Processing Center.
That facility now has a total of 108 cases, but is dwarfed by the adjacent Otero County Prison which has 527 infections among its inmates - but no new cases reported on Saturday. There were also no new cases among the residents of Otero County, so its caseload (which is counted separately from the detention facilities) remained at 30.
State health officials said many people who are infected may not have any symptoms but still have the potential to pass the virus to others. They said that’s why large-scale testing is important to prevent its spread as New Mexico begins allowing more businesses to reopen.
As a result, New Mexico health officials are now offering virus testing for utility workers as part of a statewide effort to keep essential workers in various fields safe and healthy.
The announcement by the state Department of Health covers those workers who ensure the continued operation of critical infrastructure such as electrical, water and wastewater systems.
The special testing hours being set aside for utility workers also is meant to help the state with identifying, isolating and tracing new cases of Covid-19. State officials said this week that they’re still working to reach their testing goals.
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. (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
