Two deaths added for Quay

The New Mexico Department of Health last week added two deaths to the Quay County’s COVID-19 toll after a state audit of public health records.

A DOH spokesman contacted by the Quay County Sun said he did not know the details about the two deaths, which increased the county’s total to 10 since the pandemic began last spring.

The total number of COVID-19 deaths in New Mexico rose by 114 last week after the audit.

According to a news release from the agency, delays in processing the death records during a caseload surge this winter were due to a variety of reasons, which included deaths of New Mexico residents that occurred out-of-state as well as incomplete or inaccurate information at the time of death.

Quay County recorded one more confirmed COVID-19 case Friday. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Quay County rose to 519 since the pandemic began and by more than 90 since mid-April.

The breakdown of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 370 in Tucumcari, 94 in Logan, 23 in San Jon, 11 in House, nine in McAlister, four in Nara Visa, five in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County), and four in Bard.

A total of 436 people in the county have been deemed as recovered from the virus.

These recent COVID-19 rapid responses were recorded at Quay County entities, according to the state’s database:

• New Mexico Department of Transportation District 4, San Jon, one case reported May 25.

A typical rapid response consists of isolating positive cases, quarantining close contacts, 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, 124 new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, bringing the overall total to more than 202,000 since the pandemic began. That was the lowest daily total since mid-February.

Six COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the total at 4,263.

A total of 109 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, a decrease of about 35 from the previous week.

The Amarillo metro region on Friday totaled 403 active cases of the disease — an increase of 100 in one week. The hospitalization rate was 6.39%, which more than doubled in a week.

In the U.S., more than 33.2 million people have been confirmed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with more than 594,000 deaths, through Friday.