Otero Prison inmate among 6 more state virus deaths; Doña Ana County has 44 of state’s 301 new cases

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- An Otero County Prison inmate's death was one six new coronavirus deaths reported in New Mexico on Friday, state health officials said.

The death of the 70-year-old man who had been hospitalized was the eighth occurring in Otero County since the start of the pandemic; the majority of the county's deaths have happened at the prison where 732 inmates - over 80% of the facility's population - have been infected to date by the virus.

The death count across New Mexico has now reached 539.

The state also reported 301 additional virus cases on Friday, with Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties - encompassing the state's two largest cities, Albuquerque and Las Cruces - experiencing the most new cases.

There were 44 new cases in Doña Ana County, nearly 15% of all the daily infections recorded statewide, to take its total to 1,350. The county's fatality count held at eleven. In neighboring Otero County, there were five new cases to take its total count to 72.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, just a day prior, had cited accelerating rates of infection across large portions of the state - notably including Las Cruces and Albuquerque - in her announcement that she was rolling back portions of the state's reopening.

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.