3 new Southern New Mexico virus deaths, including woman over 100, as spread & positivity rates worsen

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- The total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in New Mexico approached 160,000 on Wednesday, with more than 2,800 deaths statewide linked to the virus.

Southern New Mexico counties accounted for three of the state's 13 added deaths reported Wednesday. Those included:

• A woman in her 50s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized.
• A man in his 70s who was a resident of the Mimbres Memorial Nursing Home in Deming.
• A woman in her 100s who was a resident of the Good Samaritan Society facility in Las Cruces.

Across New Mexico, hospitalizations related to the coronavirus have decreased, with 702 total virus patients on Wednesday. Medical officials said that hospitals were still busy, but mostly with non-Covid-19 cases.

Health officials reported that a dozen of New Mexico's 33 counties have seen improvements in the rate of spread and positive tests over the last two weeks, while 16 counties - including Doña Ana, Luna and Otero - worsened in both metrics.

Only Harding and Union counties in the state's northeast corner are now able to relax some public health requirements. The rest — including the most populous counties of Bernalillo (Albuquerque) and Doña Ana (Las Cruces) — remain in the highest risk category.

The state's color-coded system allows counties to loosen restrictions as they move from red to yellow and ultimately green. Officials have touted it as a way to provide communities the flexibility to allow more daily activities as public health data shows the virus is retreating within their borders.

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.