LAS CRUCES – Sylvia Garcia, a longtime teacher within Las Cruces Public Schools, died Sunday after battling COVID-19. She was 60.
Garcia began her career in education in 1991 with LCPS. She taught at Sunrise Elementary, Hermosa Heights Elementary and Valley View Elementary. In 2019, she joined the staff at Lynn Community Middle School teaching math and reading intervention to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.
The Sun-News talked to Garcia’s family last weekend as they gathered outside her hospital room at Memorial Medical Center.
“For her to go through this and me not being able to hold her hand, comb her hair, hug her, kiss her — it’s very hard to not be there for her and be by her side,” son Pablo Garcia said on Nov. 21. On that date, the family had waited 22 days outside her hospital room.
Esther Torres-Peña, Sylvia’s friend and a teacher at Hermosa Heights Elementary School, told the Sun-News at the time that she understood why friends and family couldn’t enter her hospital room.
“I understand and it’s worth it; it’s absolutely worth it to sit out here and just — hopefully, she knows we’re here supporting her,” Torres-Peña said.
Brenda Ballard, principal at Lynn, said Sunday that Sylvia Garcia kept in regular communication with her school family after being hospitalized. According to Ballard, it was important to Garcia that she keep her colleagues updated on her prognosis.
“She was a unique teacher whose reach went beyond the classroom; she invested in the lives of her students and her colleagues and she made students feel like they were her own family,” Ballard stated in a news release. “During our remote learning time, she would find ways to engage students in something personal. She knew details about students few others did.”
Pablo said his mom was still helping students with homework over the phone even after she contracted the virus and was admitted to the hospital.
More: COVID-19 in Doña Ana County: 100 deaths and counting
“Beyond being a great and caring teacher, (Sylvia) was an amazing friend and colleague,” Ballard stated. “She cared for everyone on the staff and would go above and beyond to check in with people. In March, when we were working remotely, she came to school one day to get some teaching materials from the classroom. My uncle had passed away the evening before and she just sat with me for an hour or so, not asking questions, just being present. Her friends will tell you similar stories.”
LCPS Superintendent Karen Trujillo said the district was devastated.
“Sylvia was a beloved, veteran educator with deep roots in this district. Our school family is doing all we can to support her children in this extremely difficult time,” Trujillo said.
Numbers on the rise
Sylvia Garcia is one of more than 180 Doña Ana County residents and one of more than 1,500 New Mexico residents to die of COVID-19 complications since March.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in New Mexico has risen over the past two weeks from 14.9 deaths per day on Nov. 14 to 25.3 deaths per day on Saturday, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
New Mexico also ranks among the worst 10 states in diagnosis rates for COVID-19, with 1 out of every 144 people diagnosed with the virus from Nov. 21 through Saturday. North Dakota had the highest rate, with 1 out of 119 residents diagnosed with the virus.
The state plans to switch to a county-by-county risk evaluation system on Wednesday. The administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says that will allow local communities to shed burdensome restrictions when public health data show the virus is retreating locally.
The rolling average of daily new coronavirus cases in New Mexico has risen over the past two weeks from 1,357 new cases per day on Nov. 14 to 2,077 new cases per day on Saturday. Comparing seven-day averages of new cases smooths out anomalies in the data, including delays in test results.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
Sun-News reporter Nathan Fish and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
