Copyright © 2021 Albuquerque Journal
COVID-19 cases and deaths tied to the virus continue to drop in New Mexico as officials announced 752 new infections in an update Saturday afternoon. An additional 17 deaths from the virus were also reported – a number that has fallen but remains relatively high.
The update pushed the seven-day rolling average of virus cases to 710 a day and deaths to 21 a day, the lowest it has been since Nov. 21. While cases across the state have been declining steadily since early January, the death toll has gone through peaks and valleys that often reached near-record highs.
Six of the 17 people whose deaths were reported Saturday had underlying conditions, and four were from Bernalillo County, which had the highest number. The deceased ranged in age from their 50s into their 90s and six were from assisted living facilities across the state.
There have been 3,265 deaths from the virus in the state, 2,258 of them in the past three months.
It was on Oct. 30 when New Mexico surpassed 1,000 deaths that had accumulated over an eight-month period. Since then, the death toll skyrocketed, reaching a peak rolling average of 35 a day on Dec. 17.
The majority of new cases announced Saturday were from Bernalillo County, with 255. Next highest were Doña Ana and Sandoval counties, with 70 cases each.
The state has had a total of 173,539 cases of COVID-19, more than 127,000 of them in the past three months. Since Oct. 30, cases surged to a peak rolling average of 2,672 cases a day on Nov. 23.
There were 548 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across New Mexico on Saturday.
As of Saturday, 102,298 virus cases have been designated as recovered by the New Mexico Department of Health.
