Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
With another 1,287 cases of COVID-19 recorded Saturday – the seven-day rolling average in the state has pushed past 1,000 cases a day for the first time since the pandemic hit in March.
The average is now 1,027 cases a day. This time last month, it was 276 cases per day.
Jodi McGinnis Porter, a Governor’s Office spokeswoman, said hospitalizations also jumped from 402 to 441 – a nearly 10% increase – over the past 24 hours.
Currently, 77% of general beds and 80% of ICU beds at New Mexico hospitals are occupied.
McGinnis Porter said an additional 16 people have died of the virus, the second-highest daily total.
Four of those who died were under age 40, and the majority were hospitalized, and all but two had underlying conditions. Those who died were:
• A woman in her 50s, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s from Bernalillo County.
• Two women, both in their 70s, from Bernalillo County who were residents of the South Valley Care Center in Albuquerque.
• A man in his 30s, with no underlying conditions, and a man in his 60s from Bernalillo County.
• A woman in her 70s from Chaves County.
• A man in his 70s from Doña Ana County who was a resident of the Casa de Oro Center in Las Cruces.
• A man in his 30s from Eddy County.
• A man in his 30s from Lea County.
• A man in his 20s and a man in his 80s from Sandoval County.
• A man in his 60s from Sierra County.
• A man in his 50s from Taos County.
• A man in his 80s from Valencia County who was a resident of the Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Belen.
There have now been 1,104 COVID-19 deaths across the state.
Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties continued to report the highest numbers of cases, with 325 and 206, respectively, recorded Saturday. There were also 77 reported in McKinley County, 65 in Santa Fe County, 57 in Lea County and 56 in Chaves County.
McGinnis Porter said there were 66 new cases among inmates at the Roswell Correctional Center – a day after the prison reported 48 cases.
The state has had a total of 53,671 cases of the virus with 23,088 designated as having recovered by the New Mexico Department of Health.
