Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
New Mexico on Saturday broke another record for the most coronavirus cases in one day, while Quay County on Sunday reached the 100 mark since the pandemic began in March.
The latest case in Quay County on Monday was a woman in the McAlister ZIP code age 60 to 69, according to the New Mexico Department of Health website. That brought the total to 101.
The county has recorded 21 cases of COVID-19 since Oct. 14.
Quay County likely will exceed the state’s two benchmarks for school reopenings of eight daily cases per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 5% in the two-week period of Oct. 13 to Oct. 26. The county must keep its total number of cases below 10 during each two-week period. According to the Quay County Sun’s calculations, the county’s test positivity rate from Oct. 23 through Monday was 7.7%.
Quay County had been in the green zone, but it almost certainly will drop into the red zone when the state assessments are completed this week. Because COVID-19 cases are rising in the state, many other counties likely will join Quay County in the red zone. It may be a moot point; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said last week she was freezing the expansion of in-person classes at public schools because of the virus upsurge.
The total breakdown of cases in the county since the pandemic started has been 58 in the Tucumcari ZIP code, 36 in Logan, five in San Jon, two in McAlister and one in Grady.
Two deaths have been reported in Quay County.
The state’s COVID rapid-response database shows teams were referred to one confirmed case each at Tucumcari Mountain Cheese Factory on Oct. 20 and at Love’s Travel Stop in Tucumcari on Oct. 17. Such entities must undergo health protocols before reopening.
The state’s Public Education Department on Thursday also reported a Tucumcari Elementary School student had tested positive for the disease.
According to the PED, the student last was on campus Oct. 13. It stated all staff members and parents were notified. Affected classrooms and facilities were cleaned and disinfected.
A news release from superintendent Aaron McKinney stated the district is required to investigate to see who had “close contact” — anyone 6 feet or closer for more than three minutes — with the infected student and test those individuals within seven to 10 days. All in close contact must self-quarantine for 14 days, regardless of test results.
Tucumcari Elementary also reported a coronavirus case on Oct. 4.
On Sunday, the state recorded 828 confirmed cases of COVID-19, just below Saturday’s record high of 875. Dona Ana County had more than 200 cases Sunday. The total was 723 on Monday.
Hospitalizations from the disease also reached a record high in the state Monday with 289.
Nine deaths were reported in the state Monday, bringing the total to 976.
The total number of New Mexicans afflicted by the virus passed the 40,000 mark over the weekend.
In Amarillo, the total number of active coronavirus cases fell Monday to 3,287 after a high of more than 4,100 a few days before, according to that city’s health department. The city’s hospitalization rate for the cases rose to over 19%.
In the U.S., more than 8.6 million confirmed cases have been reported since the pandemic began, with more than 225,000 deaths as of Monday.