Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County and New Mexico last week each displayed signs of a slowdown with the latest surge of coronavirus cases.
Quay County recorded 26 confirmed cases of COVID-19 last week. That compares to 30 cases reported during the previous week. It was the fifth consecutive week more than 25 cases were reported in the county.
The COVID Act Now website on Friday lowered Quay County’s community risk of spread of the disease from to “medium” after it had been lodged in the “high” risk area for several weeks.
Neighboring San Miguel, De Baca, Harding and Union counties each were deemed low risk. Guadalupe and Curry counties were medium risk.
New Mexico’s seven-day daily case rate declined significantly to 794 by Friday. The rate was 948 the previous week.
New Mexico Health Secretary David Scrase said during an online briefing Thursday he believed the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in the state had plateaued, but “we’re still not out of the woods.”
Scrase noted the state was seeing fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths compared to previous variants of the virus. During the peak of the earlier Delta variant outbreak, more than 700 people in New Mexico were hospitalized. The current outbreak saw hospitalizations peak slightly above 200 before dropping.
In response to a reporter’s question, Scrase said he didn’t anticipate state health restrictions, including masks, being reinstated.
“We have to tools we need to manage the pandemic,” he said, including referring to new COVID-19 drugs that greatly lessen the risk of serious illness or death if they’re taken early during an infection.
With last week’s numbers, the total number of coronavirus cases in the county since the pandemic began in spring 2020 rose to 2,225.
The breakdown of total COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 1,736 in Tucumcari, 312 in Logan, 105 in San Jon, 40 in House, 23 in McAlister, 18 in Bard and 15 in Nara Visa.
The new cases last week were reported in the ZIP codes of Tucumcari, Logan, San Jon, House and McAlister.
No confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Quay County were reported last week, keeping the death toll from the virus at 64 since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
The state’s Environment Department reported these rapid responses for COVID-19 employer infections in Quay County:
• Union Pacific Railroad in Tucumcari, one case reported July 29;
• Mesalands Community College, Tucumcari, one case reported Aug. 2.
A total of 1,046 new cases of coronavirus were reported Friday in New Mexico. That raised the total since the pandemic began to more than 597,000.
A total of 160 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, a sharp decrease of nearly 50 from the previous week.
A total of nine COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the pandemic’s overall total to 8,282.
In the Amarillo metro region, the total number of active cases on Friday stabilized after weeks of steep increases. That total last week was 2,419, compared to 2,420 the previous week.
The disease has killed 1,296 people in the Amarillo metro since the pandemic began.
In the U.S., about 92.2 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic began, with more than 1.03 million deaths, through Saturday.
Scrase said he anticipated Omicron-specific vaccination booster shots would be available in New Mexico by September, though current booster shots still provide a measure of protection against serious illness and death.
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.