Dona Ana County sees 12th virus death; 2 more southern New Mexico nursing homes infected

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A man in his 70s from Doña Ana County was among a half-dozen new coronavirus deaths in New Mexico reported by state health officials on Wednesday.

The man had been hospitalized with underlying conditions. He was Doña Ana County's twelfth virus fatality of the pandemic.

The other five deaths reported Wednesday took place in the northwest corner of the state and in the Albuquerque area.

With those six additional deaths, the number of New Mexicans killed by the virus reached 557.

The state also announced 330 more confirmed coronavirus cases, with nearly half of those (162) occurring Bernalillo County - which is the Albuquerque metro area. At least 15,841 New Mexicans have been infected throughout the pandemic.

Doña Ana County had the second highest new case count of the day, but at 35 was just ten percent of the state's total. The county has seen a cumulative 1,571 infections to date.

The Adobe in Las Cruces became the latest of dozens of assisted living facilities across the state where health officials are now reporting at least one confirmed case recently among staff or residents.

The facility is now the ninth nursing home in Las Cruces and the tenth in Doña Ana County to make the list at some point during the pandemic. Previous infections have been reported at Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Welbrook Senior Living, Good Samaritan Society, Blue Horizon Assisted Living, Haciendas of Grace Village, Casa De Oro Center, Casa Del Sol Center and The Village at Northrise in Las Cruces, as well as The Jim Wood Home in Hatch, which has also seen a death from the virus.

Also in southern New Mexico, the Aristocrat Assisted Living Center in Alamogordo made the nursing home infections list too. It was the first assisted living facility in Otero County to be placed on it.

Meantime, there was one new case reported at the Otero County Prison facility, which has seen 734 inmates infected to date - more than 80% of the prison's total population. Among the non-prison population in Otero County, there was also just one new case Wednesday, for a total of 84 cases thus far.

Statewide, there were 174 people hospitalized due to virus-related illness on Wednesday. That meant there were far fewer New Mexicans in the hospital than neighboring El Pasoans at 287.

New Mexico health leaders said there have been 6,496 recoveries to date, although research shows some recovered persons can still have long-term health issues can stemming from the virus.

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.