Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
For the third time in just over a week, the state broke its record for the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases.
Jodi McGinnis Porter, a Governor’s Office spokesman, announced an additional 875 cases in an update Saturday afternoon.
Since Oct. 16, New Mexico had already tallied record highs of 819 and 827 cases, with the count dipping below 500 only once. In that same period, the numbers have also pushed the rolling seven-day average from 504 to 671 cases a day.
McGinnis Porter said there were five additional deaths related to the virus. All those who died were hospitalized.
Those who died were a man in his 50s and a woman in her 70s from Bernalillo County; a man in his 50s from Chaves County; a woman in her 80s from Doña Ana County; and a woman in her 50s from Socorro County.
McGinnis Porter said the number of people who are hospitalized with the virus has jumped from 229 to 264, with 41 people on ventilators. She said 80% of general beds and 76% of ICU beds were occupied across New Mexico hospitals, by patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and other illnesses.
Bernalillo County had the most new cases, with 251; followed by Doña Ana, with 125; Lea, with 51; Santa Fe, with 48; and Chaves, with 47.
There were also 19 new cases among federal inmates at the Otero County Prison Facility and five among detainees held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the neighboring Otero County Processing Center.
Statewide, there have been 41,040 cases and 965 deaths since the first cases were reported in March. The New Mexico Department of Health has designated 20,765 cases as having recovered.
