Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County saw the highest per-capita number of coronavirus cases in New Mexico during the past week, according to a website that tracks such data.
Quay County’s rate Monday was 24.2 cases per 100,000 people, according to COVID Act Now. Lea County was for second with 22.9. COVID Act Now consists of technologists, epidemiologists, health experts and public policy leaders who partner with Georgetown and Stanford universities.
Quay County also had a positive test rate of 10.8%, well above the state average of under 3%. The website grades the county and others in the southeast part of the region, including Roosevelt and Curry, as “at risk of outbreak.”
Though no cases were reported Saturday, Sunday or Monday, Logan had seen 22 confirmed cases in 13 days, raising its total to 26 since the pandemic began.
Last week, the state's COVID-19 rapid-response teams were referred to Ute Lake State Park in Logan for five confirmed cases among employees, Presbyterian Health Services (aka Trigg Memorial Hospital) in Tucumcari for one confirmed case there.
Rapid-response teams also were referred to three separate confirmed cases at Logan Municipal Schools on Aug. 13, Aug. 19 and Aug. 21.
Logan’s outbreaks prompted a delay in the start of classes at Logan Municipal Schools through Labor Day and the closure of Ute Lake State Park through Aug. 25.
The sharp rise in the county's positivity rate prompted Quail Ridge Senior Special Care Center in Tucumcari to halt a short-lived relaxation of visitation rules. Quail Ridge residents had been allowed outdoors, masked and socially distanced visitations beginning Aug. 12 because the county had met the criteria of a low daily case rate and low positivity rate.
Since the pandemic began, 32 cases have been reported in Tucumcari, 26 in Logan and four in San Jon, according to the state Department of Health’s website. The agency listed the total number in the county as 60, and the total in the affected ZIP codes was 62. The DOH did not explain the discrepancy, and an email asking about it was not immediately answered.
As of Monday, a total of 23 people in Quay County have been designated as recovered from the disease, with one resident who died in Florida in April.
A total of 1,540 people in the county have been tested for the virus.
On Monday, a total of 76 people in New Mexico were confirmed Monday with the virus, raising the overall total to 24,469 since the pandemic began. The state remained well under the gating criteria of the seven-day average of 168, averaging 138.
Two deaths were reported in the state Monday, raising the total to 747. A total of 68 people are hospitalized. A total of 11,668 have been designated as recovered from the disease.
In the U.S., a total of 5.7 million people have been confirmed with the virus, with 177,000 deaths on Monday afternoon.
Health briefing
Human Services Secretary David Scrase said during a Thursday briefing he wanted to see a “stable trend” of lower cases before recommending the reopening of New Mexico’s economy. He said “discussions on ongoing” with reopening the state.
The state’s current health order expires Aug. 28. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signaled several weeks ago she was inclined to have more elementary-age children attend in-person classes after the Labor Day holiday, then phase in middle-school and high-school students to attend classes in late September and early October, respectively.
Scrase said New Mexico was meeting all the gating criteria to reopen parts of the economy. The spread rate was 0.70, compared to the goal of 1.05; average COVID-19 tests per day was 6,200, compared to the goal of 5,000; the seven-day daily case average was in the 130s, below the goal of 168. The state also was meeting its criteria for contact tracing, intensive-card bed availability and personal protective equipment supplies.
“If we can sustain this, we can do a little bit more reopening,” he said.
Chad Smelser, the state’s lead epidemiologist, agreed with Scrase’s assessment.
“The longer you go (with low cases), the better off you’ll be,” he said.
Smelser noted Arizona and Texas reopened their economies quickly this summer and subsequently saw sharp rises in coronavirus cases. New Mexico reopened parts of its economy in June and also saw sharp increases.
To avoid that situation again, Smelser urged reopening in a “slowly incremental fashion.” He said officials also are watching the number of cases in the days ahead after public schools reopened to thousands of schoolchildren in mid-August.
Smelser said the southeast region remains the “most problematic” in new cases. He said the Texas’ metro areas of Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland hold a heavy influence on the spread of the virus. Other regions in New Mexico are seeing a steady decline in cases.
Scrase said state officials are inclined to be less zealous about reopening quickly, though they are consulting with the state’s Economic Recovery Council on several options.
Scrase said he was inclined to get schoolchildren back into in-person classes soon. Though such an act would add to disease risk to staff, he said children do not learn as well online, and many others lack good infrastructure for internet access. He said with mask-wearing, hand washing and social distancing, that risk can be reduced.