COVID-19 Report: Thursday, Dec. 17

It has now been more than nine months since New Mexico declared a public health emergency (March 11) because of the pandemic. Positive tests as of Dec. 16 were nearing 125,000 statewide and testing was approaching 1.8 million in a state with a total population of about 2.1 million.

Hospitalizations have steadily declined statewide from 940 Dec. 2 to 838 Dec. 16. The number of people recovering from COVID-19 has declined from 25,411 Nov. 16 to 32,569 Nov. 30, and from 34,411 Dec. 2 to 49,609 Dec. 16.

While the entire state was in red for the Dec. 1-14 New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) report, Doña Ana County reported 91.8 cases per 100,000 and a 20.3 percent positive for Nov. 17-30, with numbers dropping to 56.6 cases per 100,000 and 12.9 percent positive for Dec. 1-14.

Texas numbers continue to be high (14,805 new cases Dec. 16), El Paso County continues a decline of daily cases, which had been in the thousands. Its Dec. 17 total was 350. Hospitalizations in El Paso County, which had reached well more than 1,000 in mid-November, began a steady decline in early December, from 897 Dec. 3 to 565 Dec. 17.

Red-yellow-green framework

NMDOH’s Dec. 16 report showed the statewide COVID-19 map for the two-week period beginning Dec. 16 with all 33 New Mexico counties at the red level under the department’s red-yellow-green system for measuring the risk of COVID-19 viral spread in each county. However, NMDOH said 27 counties “improved in at least one of the two health gating criteria metrics, and 23 improved in both metrics, underscoring an improving COVID-19 outlook across the state.”

Grant County had the lowest positivity rate in the state, with 5.6 percent of tests returning positive as of Dec. 16, NMDOH said, followed by San Miguel County (6.6 percent), Taos County (6.7 percent), Los Alamos County (7 percent) and Harding County (8.3 percent). The state threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 5 percent. Harding County had the lowest average daily per-capita case rates, at 10.1 per 100,000 as of Dec. 16, followed by Los Alamos County (25.8), Catron County (30.2), Grant County (34.7) and Taos County (38.1). The threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 8 per 100,000.”

“The color-coded tier system enables counties to shed burdensome restrictions and provide local communities the flexibility to operate more day-to-day activities as soon as public health data show the virus is retreating within their borders,” the office of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a news release.

Visit cv.nmhealth.org/redtogreen for more information on the red-to-green framework. A detailed explanation of the red-to-green framework is below.

State amends capacity requirements for essential retail spaces

The state amended its emergency public health Dec. 16 “to accommodate slightly increased capacity inside essential retail spaces, such as grocery stores and certain other large ‘big box’ retailers that generate a percentage of their revenue from consumable food and drink products, as cold weather grips most of New Mexico,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

In accordance with the red-to-green system, the changes establish that essential retail spaces may operate at 50 percent of maximum occupancy at the green level, 33 percent at the yellow level and 25 percent at the red level. Previously, essential retail spaces could operate with either a limit on maximum occupancy or a specific number of customers at one time, whichever was smaller. The change eliminates the latter provision.

‘Our priority is ensuring physical distancing in high-traffic areas, like stores that people must frequent to meet essential needs,” Lujan Grisham said in the news release. “With colder weather here, we want to ensure that people aren't gathering in lines for an unsafe length of time, especially in communities where there are fewer retail options for essential needs.”

Here are NMDOH requirements for each level of the red-yellow-green framework:

• Green level: Counties have both a new COVID-19 case incidence rate of no greater than eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the most recent two-week period, and an average percent of positive COVID-19 test results over the most recent 14-day period less than or equal to five percent.
• Yellow level: Counties have either a new COVID-19 case incidence rate of no greater than eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the most recent two-week period, or an average percent of positive COVID-19 test results over the most recent 14-day period less than or equal to five percent.
• Red level: Counties with a new COVID-19 case incident rate of greater than eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the most recent two-week period and an average percent of positive COVID-19 test results over the most recent 14-day period greater than five percent.

New cases (one day): Doña Ana County 94, New Mexico 1,816; El Paso County 350; U.S. 245,033; worldwide 496,156

Updated 9:30 a.m. MST Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020

New Mexico

Dec 16: 124,357 cases, 1,767,408 tests (7.0361% positive), 2,049 died, 49,609 recovered, 838 hospitalized

Dec 14: 121,299 cases, 1,741,401 tests (6.9656% positive), 1,978 died, 46,505 recovered, 860 hospitalized

Dec 10: 114,731 cases, 1,692,676 tests (6.7781% positive), 1,846 died, 41,177 recovered, 916 hospitalized

Dec 9: 112,950 cases, 1,669,512 tests (6.76545% positive), 1,823 died, 40,058 recovered, 917 hospitalized

Dec 7: 109,947 cases, 1,660,275 tests (6.6222% positive), 1,756 died, 38,131 recovered, 935 hospitalized

Dec 2: 100,963 cases, 1,592,222 tests (6.341% positive), 1,629 died, 34,411 recovered, 940 hospitalized

Doña Ana County

Dec 16: 15,689 cases, 157,288 tests (9.975% positive), 245 died, 7,444 recovered

Dec 1-14: 56.6 cases per 100,000, 12.9% positive

Dec 14: 15,524 cases, 156,159 tests (9.9411% positive), 238 died, 6,885 recovered

Dec 10: 15,106 cases, 152,225 tests (9.9235% positive), 224 died, 5,922 recovered

Dec 9: 14,998 cases, 151,630 tests (9.891% positive), 221 died, 5,739 recovered

Dec 7: 14,777 cases, 150,045 tests (9.8485% positive), 216 died, 5,400 recovered

Dec 2: 13,797 cases, 143,430 tests (9.619% positive), 203 died, 4,704 recovered

Nov 30: 13,487 cases, 139,922 tests (9.639% positive), 187 died, 4,376 recovered

Nov 17-30: 91.8 cases per 100,000, 20.3% positive

El Paso County

Dec 17: 93,240 cases, 716,216 tests (13.16% pos, 7-day aver: 8.66%), 1,269 died, 55,995 rec, 565 hosp

Dec 15: 93,455 cases, 703,951 tests (13.28% pos, 7-day aver: 9.31%), 1,220 died, 54,598 rec, 600 hosp

Dec 10: 91,468 cases, 686,145 tests (13.33% pos, 7-day aver: 9.19%), 1,121 died, 52,188 rec, 640 hosp

Dec 9: 91,150 cases, 681,150 tests, (13.38% pos, 7-day aver: 9.86%), 1,077 died, 51,513 rec, 634 hosp

Dec 8: 90,748 cases, 674,285 tests (13.46% pos, 7-day aver: 10.99%), 1,057 died, 51,130 rec, 665 hosp

Dec 3: 87,799 cases, 652,473 tests (13.56% pos, 7-day aver: 14.18%), 941 died, 48,537 rec, 897 hosp

Dec 1: 86,752 cases, 641,389 tests (13.53% pos, 7-day aver: 12.9%), 933 died, 47,810 rec, 875 hos

United States

Dec 17: 17,017,946 cases, 51,639 per million; 307,642 died

Dec 15: 16,569,913 cases, 50,279 per million; 301,006 died

Dec 10: 15,468,785 cases, 46,938 per million; 289,531 died

Dec 8: 15,027,423 cases, 45,599 per million; 283,835 died

Dec 3: 13,999,385 cases, 42,479 per million; 273,518 died

Dec 1: 13,615,103 cases, 41,313 per million; 268,023 died

Worldwide

Dec 17: 74,248,878 cases, 9,549 per million; 1,649,480 died

Dec 15: 72,847,422 cases, 9,368 per million; 1,621,150 died

Dec 10: 69,139,809 cases, 8,892 per million; 494,744 new cases (one day); 1,574,294 died

Dec 8: 67,618,431 cases, 8,696 per million; 1,544,985 died

Dec 3: 64,508,175 cases, 8,296 per million; 453,170 new cases (one day); 1,492,989 died

Dec 1: 63,347,492 cases, 8,147 per million; 1,470,456 died

Population Worldwide 7.8b; United States 330m, New Mexico 2.1m, Doña Ana County 2