Arizona virus patients being sent to New Mexico as cases top 16,000, Doña Ana County exceeds 1,600

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Health officials in New Mexico reported 300 additional Covid-19 cases and five more confirmed deaths Thursday.

That increased the statewide death toll to 562 and the confirmed cases total to 16,138.

The New Mexico Department of Health said 103 of the additional cases were in Bernalillo County (Albuquerque area), which led the state. Officials said Doña Ana County, the Las Cruces area, was second in new cases with 39 - raising the county's cumulative total to 1,610.

As of Thursday, there were 170 patients hospitalized in New Mexico for Cvoid-19. But state officials said that number "may include individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico."

The caveat comes amid a report by the Albuquerque Journal that people who have tested positive for the virus in Arizona are being transferred to New Mexico hospitals because of staffing shortages and a lack of bed space.

Those transfers are occuring under a federal law that requires hospitals to accept patients from neighboring states if beds are available.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the transfer of out-of-state patients poses challenges as some New Mexico facilities are at or nearing capacity levels.

New Mexico has fewer hospital beds per capita than many other states, she said.

“That means we have less available for our folks here, which means I have to do even a better job at managing Covid and New Mexicans are going to have to have even more personal responsibility than many other Americans,” she told the Washington Post in an interview.

The New Mexico Department of Health has confirmed the transfer of patients. But the department said the number of patients is not large enough to affect New Mexico’s ability to provide for its own residents.

“Being able to work with other states to share resources in emergencies is very important, but it’s also important that Arizona learn to better manage the rampant spread of Covid-19 that it’s let occur there,” department spokesman David Morgan said.

It is unclear how many patients have been transferred from Arizona to New Mexico, or if there were out-of-state patients from other states. Out-of-state patients are not added to the state’s case count, but they are included in the hospitalization numbers.

The number of occupied ICU beds at seven designated New Mexico hospitals this week was at 256, below the maximum capacity of 614 beds, according to department data.