COVID-19 update: Friday, Sept. 25

COVID-19 Statistics (Friday, Sep 25, 2020 updates)

pos=positive; rec=recovered; hosp=hospitalized; vents=ventilators; b=billion; m=million; t=thousand

New Mexico 28,487 cases, 893,489 tests (3.1883% pos), 865 died, 16,020 rec, 75 hosp. Sep 24: 28,224 cases, 885,373 tests (3.1878%), 859 died, 15,825 rec, 66 hosp.

Doña Ana County 3,285 cases, 78,618 tests (4.178% pos), 55 died, 1,873 rec. Sep 24: 3,227 cases, 77,902 tests (4.143%), 54 died, 1,854 rec.

Regional hospitals (Doña Ana, Luna, Catron, Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Hidalgo, Otero counties) Sep 16: 7 cases; 52 of 108 ICU beds, 17 of 82 vents in use. Sep 8: 9 cases; 53/112 ICU, 17 vents. (ICU/vents are all patients, not just COVID.) Aug 26: 13 cases, 50 ICU, 13 vents. Aug 19: 17 cases; 47 ICU, 17 vents.

Texas 728,552 cases, 15,364 died, 646,143 rec, 3,221 hosp. Sep 24: 723,919 cases, 15,267 died, 642,169 rec, 3,204 hosp. Lab test positivity rate:  Sep 24: 9.25%, Sep 23: 8.63%, Sep 22: 7.75%, Sep 20: 7.9%, Sep 19: 7.98%.

El Paso County 23,388 cases, 278,293 tests (8.4% pos; 7-day aver: 7.72%), 515 died, 19,389 rec, 144 hosp. Sep 23: 23,014 cases, 272,675 tests (8.44%; 7-day aver: 7.34%), 500 died, 19,184 rec, 146 hosp.

Mexico 715,457 cases, 75,439 died. Sep 23: 705,263 cases, 74,348 died.

Estado Chihuahua 14,721 cases, 1,356 died, 7,519 rec. Sep 23: 14,375 cases, 1,341 died, 7,343 rec.

Ciudad Juarez 7,207 cases, 849 died. Sep 23: 7,058 cases, 845 died.

USA 7,015,311 cases, 202,945 died. Sep 23: 6,927,235 cases, 201,129 died.

Worldwide 32,356,829 cases (4,161/m), 984,590 died. Sep 23: 31,687,807 cases (4,075/m), 972,568 died.

Population Worldwide 7.8b; United States 330m, New Mexico 2.1m, Doña Ana County 218t; Texas 30m, El Paso County 841t; Mexico 129m, Estado de Chihuahua 3.77m, Ciudad Juarez 1.5m; Canada 38m.

COVID-19 Timeline 

Dec 31, 2019 First cases confirmed in Wuhan, China Jan 21, 2020 First U.S. case confirmed, in Washington State Jan 30 World Health Organization declares global health emergency Feb 29 First U.S. death reported, in Washington State Mar 11 N.M. reports first cases, declares public health emergency Mar 13 U.S. declares national health emergency Mar 23 N.M. closes nonessential businesses, prohibits mass gatherings June 1 N.M. allows indoor dining, gyms at 50% capacity; retail stores, malls, houses of worship at 25% Jul 13 N.M. bans indoor dining; limits gyms, close-contact businesses to 25% capacity. Aug 29 N.M. restores indoor dining at 25% capacity; increases houses of worship to 40%; museums with static displays can open at 25% capacity; mass gatherings limited to 10 people. Sep 18 N.M. permits youth sports conditioning and state park overnight camping (effective Oct. 1), each in groups up to 10; swimming pools may open, up to 10 people at a time.

What is COVID-19?  

Coronaviruses cause diseases in mammals and birds. They were discovered in 1931 in domesticated chickens in North Dakota. The first human coronavirus was isolated in in the U.S. and UK in 1965. At least seven strains of human coronavirus are known. Coronaviruses cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The name comes from the Latin corona (“crown”) because of protein spikes on the virus’ surface that resemble crowns.

The newest coronavirus causes COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019), first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough and tiredness; less common are aches and pains, nasal congestion, headache, sore throat, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell, skin rash or discoloration of fingers or toes. Symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 20% are more serious, with difficulty breathing; about 40% are asymptomatic.

H1N1 influenza A (a different virus) caused two global pandemics: 1) Spanish Flu: Feb 1918-Apr 1920, up to 500m cases, 50m died, world pop: 1.8b; 2) Swine Flu: Jan 2009-Aug 2010; 491,382 known/700m-1.4b estimated cases, 150-575t died, world pop: 6.8b. Influenza (flu) is a virus that attacks the respiratory system.

Other flu pandemics. 1957-58: 2m died worldwide, 70k in U.S.; 1968-69: 1m died worldwide, 34t in U.S.

Seasonal flu. U.S.: Oct 1, 2019-Apr 4, 2020 (flu season): 39-56m cases, 410-740t hosp, 24-62t died. Annually since 2010: 9-45m cases, 140-810t hosp, 12-61t died. Worldwide: 250-500t annual flu deaths.

COVID-19 Information Online

World Health Organization www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Global COVID-19 statistics https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov

New Mexico Department of Health https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html

New Mexico public health orders https://cv.nmhealth.org/public-health-orders-and-executive-orders/

NMDOH additional resources https://cv.nmhealth.org/

Doña Ana County/Joint Information Center www.donaanacounty.org

City of Las Cruces www.las-cruces.org/AlertCenter.aspx and covid19lascruces.com

Texas Department of State Health Services www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus

El Paso County COVID-19 statistics http://epstrong.org/results.php