Quay's seventh COVID-19 death reported

The New Mexico Department of Health last week reported the seventh death in Quay County because of COVID-19.

According to a news release Wednesday, the latest victim was a man in his 70s who was hospitalized. The agency does not identify confirmed cases or casualties of the disease.

It was the second coronavirus death reported in December in the county. Three deaths were reported in November.

On Saturday, six confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Quay County — a jump after it appeared the region’s caseload had plateaued starting in mid-December.

The jump signaled a possible spike that state and national health officials had feared after the holidays.

Two more cases were reported Sunday in the county and none Monday. The total number of confirmed cases in the county since the pandemic began rose to 340.

The total number of people in the county who have been deemed as recovered from the virus rose to 186 by Monday.

The latest breakdown by ZIP code since the pandemic began is 265 in Tucumcari, 47 in Logan, eight in House, seven in San Jon, four in McAlister, three in Nara Visa, two in Bard and one in Grady (part of the ZIP code extends into the county).

According to the state’s COVID-19 rapid-response database, a confirmed case was reported Dec. 29 at the New Mexico Department of Transportation, District 4, in Tucumcari. It was the fourth case there since Dec. 7.

A typical rapid response consists of isolating positive cases, quarantining close contacts for 14 days, ceasing operations to the extent necessary to isolate affected areas, disinfecting these areas, implementing safety procedures and resuming operations. Typically, operations are ceased for fewer than 24 hours before it is safe to reopen.

In New Mexico, a total of 936 new cases of the virus were reported Monday. The state’s total overall since the pandemic began rose to more than 147,000.

A total of 23 deaths were reported in the state Monday, raising the toll to 2,574.

A total of 703 people in New Mexico were reported hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, a decrease of 13 in one day.

In Amarillo, more than 3,300 active cases of COVID-19 were reported Monday, with a 21.2% hospitalization rate. Both numbers have been trending downward in the last several weeks.

In the U.S., more than 20.7 million people have been confirmed with the disease through Monday, with more than 353,000 deaths.