COVID-19 update: Monday, Oct. 12

COVID-19 Statistics (Update: approximately 10:45 a.m. MDT Monday, Oct 12, 2020)

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

New Mexico Oct 11: 32,983 cases, 997,373 tests (3.307% pos), 911 died, 18,680 rec, 120 hosp. Oct 8: 31,756 cases, 973,945 tests (3.2606% pos), 899 died, 18,045 rec, 119 hosp.

Doña Ana County Oct 11: 4,027 cases, 88,242 tests (4.564% pos), 61 died, 2,191 rec. Oct 8: 3,839 cases, 85,725 tests (4.478% pos), 60 died, 2,129 rec.

Regional hospitals (Doña Ana, Luna, Catron, Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Hidalgo, Otero counties) Oct 7: 30 cases; 65 of 112 ICU beds, 21 of 82 ventilators in use. Sep 30: 22 cases; 56 ICU beds, 17 vents. Sep 16: 7 cases; 52 ICU, 17 vents. Sep 8: 9 cases; 53 ICU, 17 vents. Aug 26: 13 cases; 50 ICU, 13 vents. Aug 19: 17 cases; 47 ICU, 17 vents. (ICU beds and ventilators are all patients, not just COVID-19.)

Texas Oct 11: 792,478 cases, 16,557 died, 703,662 rec, 3,622 hosp. Oct 8: 781,794 cases, 16,334 died, 695,194 rec, 3,556 hosp.  (Lab test positive rate: Oct 10: 7.19%, Oct 7: 8.02%, Oct 6: 8.08%, Oct 5: 8.06%, Oct 4: 7.97%, Oct 3: 7.57%, Sep 29: 8.74%, Sep 28: 9%, Sep 27: 8.66%, Sep 26: 9.46%, Sep 24: 9.25%, Sep 23: 8.63%)

El Paso County Oct 12: 28,934 cases, 316,366 tests (8.66% pos; 7-day aver: 11.01%), 551 died, 22,110 rec, 313 hosp. Oct 9: 27,394 cases, 328,978 tests (8.80% pos; 7-day aver: 11.07%), 545 died, 21,556 rec, 207 hosp.

Mexico Oct 12: 817,503 cases, 83,781 died. Oct 9: 804,488 cases, 83,096 died.

Estado Chihuahua Oct 11: 17,599 cases, 1,504 died, 9,736 rec. Oct 7: 16,714 cases, 1,468 died, 9,386 rec.

Ciudad Juarez Oct 11: 8,717 cases, 912 died. Oct 7: 8,150 cases, 889 died.

United States Oct 12: 7,792,420 cases, 214,604 died. Oct 9: 7,639,636 cases, 212,778 died.

World Oct 12: 37,584,742 cases (4,834/m), 1,077,672 died. Oct 9: 36,542,723 cases (4,700/m), 1,062,360 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