33 cases, 3 deaths reported in county

Quay County continued to see elevated case numbers of COVID-19, with another 33 cases and three deaths confirmed by the state last week.

That compares to the 28 cases and no deaths during the previous week. Last week’s infection totals were the highest since early June, when the county saw a brief spike of 43 cases in one week.

The COVID Act Now website last week also raised Quay County’s risk level from “low” to “moderate” for spread of the disease.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the county since the pandemic began in spring 2020 rose to 2,161.

The breakdown of total COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 1,664 in Tucumcari, 304 in Logan, 101 in San Jon, 35 in House, 22 in McAlister, 18 in Bard and 15 in Nara Visa.

The new cases last week were in Tucumcari, Logan, San Jon and Nara Visa.

Three confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Quay County were reported last week, the first since early June.

The county’s death toll from the virus rose to 61 since the pandemic began more than two years ago. More than 50 coronavirus deaths have occurred in the county in a little more than a year.

The state’s Environment Department reported no rapid responses for COVID-19 employer infections last week.

A total of 1,721 new cases of coronavirus were reported Friday in New Mexico. That raised the total since the pandemic began to more than 578,000.

New Mexico’s seven-day daily case rate rose to 960 by Friday. The rate was 824 the previous week.

A total of 181 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, an increase of 13 from the previous week.

Despite the high caseloads in New Mexico, Health Secretary David Scrase said during a briefing Thursday it appeared the rate of hospitalizations and patients needing ventilators had plateaued. He also said his modeling team projects new infections would come down.

Scrase said the BA.5 variant of the disease had become the dominant strain in New Mexico. He said BA.5 was highly contagious — three times that of the Omicron strain — but causes less- serious illness.

In an answer to a question from a reporter, Scrase said a new statewide mask mandate would not be considered.

A total of 50 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the pandemic’s overall total to 8,058.

In the Amarillo metro region, the total number of active cases continued to climb on Friday as it has for weeks. The total rose from 1,667 to 2,003 in one week.

The disease has killed 1,283 people in the Amarillo metro since the pandemic began.

In the U.S., more than 89.4 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic began, with more than 1.02 million deaths, through Saturday.

New Mexico residents can schedule vaccinations for themselves or their children through the state’s registration portal at VaccineNM.org. The New Mexico Department of Health’s vaccination helpline is available at 855-600-3453, option 3.

The state Department of Health also recommends COVID-19 drugs for those who have contracted the disease in its early stages and are at high risk for serious illness. These drugs are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death but must be taken within days of the first symptom. More information on finding these treatments can be found at FindATreatmentNM.com.