3 more virus deaths in southern New Mexico as state says remote learning to continue for many students

SANTA FE, New Mexico– The New Mexico Department of Health reported 31 additional Covid-19-related deaths on Friday, with several of them occurring in southern New Mexico, as the state's death toll reached 2,128.

Two men in their 70s from Doña Ana County and a woman in her 60s from Luna County were among the state's latest deceased.

There were also 1,463 additional Covid-19 cases statewide, with 137 of those from Doña Ana County. As of Friday, New Mexico has reported a total of 127,500 cases, of which 15,961 are from from Doña Ana County.

The state had an 11.5% positivity rate among Friday's testing data, and officials said there were 889 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico due to the virus.

Meantime, state education officials on Friday said older students will continue remote learning in New Mexico until virus conditions improve.

Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said middle and high school students will learn remotely indefinitely while the freeze on limited K-3 and special education programs will end sooner in January than officials previously indicated.

“We’re all very hopeful across the administration that we can bring our middle school and high school students back for in-person learning this year. It all depends on our ability to beat back the surge in the virus that we’re seeing,” said Stewart.

The minority of elementary schools that have opened hybrid learning programs can resume on Jan. 18, while K-3 and special education students can return to a 5:1 student-teacher ratio earlier that month.

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.)