Southern New Mexico sees triple-digit case increase, 5 new virus deaths
SANTA FE, New Mexico — Triple-digit increases in Las Cruces' Doña Ana County (125) and Albuquerque's Bernallillo County (232) were among the latest confirmed Covid-19 cases reported Thursday by state health officials.
New Mexico reported an additional 997 cases for the day, pushing the statewide total since the pandemic began to nearly 167,000 cases. Another 35 deaths were also reported, bringing that tally to nearly 3,050.
Five of those latest fatalities occurred in southern New Mexico's Doña Ana and Otero counties and included:
- A man in his 60s from Doña Ana County who did NOT have underlying conditions.
- A man in his 70s who was a resident of the Calibre Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Las Cruces.
- A man in his 70s from Otero County who was hospitalized.
- A woman in her 80s from Doña Ana County who did NOT have underlying conditions.
- A woman in her 80s who was a resident of the Village at Northrise facility in Las Cruces.
Despite lower daily case numbers, state officials have been encouraging people to continue following mandates that include wearing masks and social distancing as all but two of New Mexico's 33 counties still have elevated spread and positive rates.
They're also pushing for more people to register to get vaccinated. Just over one-fifth of the state's population has signed up so far and about 163,000 doses have been administered around the state.
Meanwhile, the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division said it will allow some new vehicle registration appointments starting Jan. 25, more than two months after registrations were stopped due to a spike in Covid-19 infections.
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.
