SANTA FE — New Mexico reported a 13% jump in new COVID-19 cases Monday as the state continues to endure high rates of the disease.
The Department of Health announced the detection of 2,630 new infections for the three-day period ending Monday, a substantial increase over the 2,335 reported a week ago for the same three days.
The state’s case numbers have been among the highest in the nation.
New Mexico ranks No. 10 among states for new cases per person over the last week, according to the U.S. Centers on Disease Control and Prevention.
Fives states in the Mountain West rank even worse than New Mexico. Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho all have case rates higher than New Mexico over the last week.
In New Mexico, health officials say the highly contagious delta variant fueled a late-summer surge in cases. But they aren’t sure why infections have failed to recede since then.
A state epidemiologist last week called it an “uncomfortable plateau.”
Waning immunity from New Mexico’s quick embrace of COVID-19 vaccines, officials said, could be factor.
Overall, the Department of Health on Monday reported:
— Hospitalizations for COVID-19 climbed to 368 patients, an increase of 9% over what was reported a week ago.
— Twelve more adults died of the disease, pushing the statewide death toll to 5,061 residents. Eight of the 12 fatalities were people in 60 or older.
Just one of the deaths, a man in his 90s, was a resident of Bernalillo County.
— The share of fully vaccinated adults in New Mexico ticked up by 0.2 percentage points to 72.6%. About 82.4% of adults have had at least one dose, and about 10.9% of adults have had a booster shot.
— 658 of the new cases were in Bernalillo County, 404 were in San Juan County, 329 were in Doña Ana County
