Quay sees downturn in cases

Quay County saw a marked downturn in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the past week, yet another sign the pandemic was waning in New Mexico.

The county recorded just three cases since Jan. 25, and those were either in the Logan or House ZIP codes. It was the first time in weeks Tucumcari had such a prolonged absence of confirmed COVID-19 cases. A total of 14 cases in the county were reported the previous week.

No cases were reported in the county Sunday or Monday, keeping the overall total to 398 since the pandemic began last spring, with eight deaths.

The breakdown by ZIP code through Monday was 306 in Tucumcari, 58 in Logan, 10 in House, eight in McAlister, seven in San Jon, four in Nara Visa, three in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County) and two in Bard.

A total of 272 people in Quay County have been deemed to have recovered from the virus.

COVID-19 rapid responses were referred last week because of confirmed cases of the virus with these entities:

• Lowe’s Family Center hardware store in Tucumcari, one case reported Jan. 26;

• Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari, one case reported Wednesday;

• House Junior High School in House, one case reported Friday.

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 487 new COVID-19 cases were reported Monday, bringing the overall total to more than 174,000 since the pandemic began.

The seven-day average for cases in New Mexico has fallen to fewer than 700, a drop of about 100 in just a week’s time.

“Our feeling is the downward trend is real,” Human Services Secretary David Scrase said during a briefing last week.

Scrase also noted vaccinations were beginning to have a positive effect in New Mexico’s case numbers.

The state, however, remains well above the gating criteria of 168 cases in the seven-day average.

A total of 12 deaths were reported in the state Monday, increasing that total to 3,295.

A total of 477 people were hospitalized with the disease Monday. That number recently has continued a downward trend from a peak of more than 900 earlier this winter.

The Amarillo metro region on Monday reported more than 2,300 active cases of the disease with a 13.1% hospitalization rate. Both numbers have been trending downward in recent weeks.

In the U.S., the total number of coronavirus cases rose to more than 26.3 million, with more than 442,000 deaths, through Monday.