Quay sees 11th death from coronavirus

The New Mexico Department of Health on Friday identified Quay County’s 11th death from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last spring.

The agency identified the death as a woman in her 70s who had been hospitalized. That death occurred more than 30 days ago. The DOH has been reporting COVID-related deaths that occurred weeks ago because some death certificates were delayed due to insufficient information.

State health officials reported one confirmed case of coronavirus Friday in the county, bringing the overall total to 534 since the pandemic began. Four cases in the county were reported last week.

The breakdown of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 371 in Tucumcari, 106 in Logan, 24 in San Jon, 11 in House, nine in McAlister, five in Nara Visa, five in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County), and four in Bard.

A total of 504 people in the county were deemed by the state Department of Health to have recovered from the disease.

No COVID-19 rapid responses were recorded at Quay County entities last week.

In New Mexico, 122 new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, bringing the overall total to more than 204,000 since the pandemic began.

Six COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the total at 4,316.

A total of 95 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, which was about the same as the previous week.

The Amarillo metro region on Friday totaled 143 active cases of the disease — a decrease of about 80 in one week.

In the U.S., more than 33.5 million people have been confirmed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with more than 601,000 deaths, through Friday.

Vaccinations

Quay County health providers saw a modest bump in vaccination rates in the wake of the state offering financial incentives — including millions of dollars and prizes from a lottery — to get more people vaccinated.

According to state data Friday, 36.9% of Quay County residents have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus. That was an increase of 0.6%, which was a larger than the 0.2% from the previous week.

About 41% of Quay County residents have received one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of 0.4%. The increase was 0.2% the previous week.

Quay County had the fifth-lowest vaccination rate in New Mexico through mid-June. Several of those low-vaccination counties are in the eastern part of the state, leading to speculation of undercounting because some of those residents receive medical care in Texas, which typically does not share vaccination data with other states.

The Quay County Public Health Office vaccinated 11 people during its weekly event at the Tucumcari Convention Center. In recent weeks, it had vaccinated only a half-dozen. The office will continue to hold such events at the convention center each Wednesday.

The health office and other providers in the county gave forms to vaccinated patients this week so they could receive a $100 gift card in the mail.

C. Renee Hayoz, administrator at the Quay County Family Health Center, said 15 patients were vaccinated there last week.

“I was thinking we’d have a lot more with the pay incentives,” she said.

She also encountered one problem with the program — a fax number used to transmit the forms for patients’ $100 gift cards was continually busy.

Hayoz’s clinic received 100 more doses of the Modern vaccine but depleted its supply of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. She said Thursdays at the clinic would be devoted to vaccinations for the time being.

Vickie Gutierrez, administrator at Trigg Memorial Hospital, reported 19 booster shots were given last week. She said the hospital has received no additional calls about the vaccines since pay incentives were announced earlier this month.

David Scrase, the state’s Human Services secretary, said Wednesday the $100 payments are funded by $2.73 million from the federal American Rescue Plan. He said the state was prompted to begin the incentives because one of the most common reasons people give for not being vaccinated is because they can’t take time off work.

Those who wish to schedule a vaccination can do so at the vaccineNM.org website.

The state’s Vax 2 the Max Sweepstakes announced its first four $250,000 drawings Friday — one each from New Mexico’s quadrants. The prospective winners were from Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Ruidoso.

The next drawings are scheduled for July 2, July 16, July 23 and July 30. A grand prize drawing of $5 million is scheduled for early August.

New Mexicans who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination may opt in to the sweepstakes at vax2themaxNM.org.

New variants

State health officials during a briefing Wednesday made additional pleas for residents to be vaccinated because of the danger of new COVID-19 variants.

Scrase said the Alpha variant, which originated in the United Kingdom, is the dominant variant in New Mexico, accounting for more than 70% of new cases. The Alpha variant is twice as contagious.

Scrase voiced concern about the Delta variant, which accounts for less than 1% of new cases in the state but became the dominant strain during a massive outbreak in India. He said the Delta variant often leads to more severe cases of the disease and reduced effectiveness with treatments and one shot of Pfizer vaccine. He said it’s important for residents to get two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to more effectively ward off that variant.

Scrase predicted the Delta variant could become a dominant strain in the U.S. in as little as four to six weeks.

Scrase noted people who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are 24 times more likely to die of the disease.