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CORONAVIRUS

COVID-19 update: Tuesday, Oct. 20

Posted

COVID-19 Statistics (Update: approximately 10:15 a.m. MDT Tuesday, Oct 20, 2020)

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

New Mexico Oct 19: 37,302 cases, 1,061,268 tests (3.5149% pos), 935 died, 20,001 rec. 183 hosp. Oct 18: 36,788 cases, 1,054,891 tests (3.4874% pos), 934 died, 19,894 rec. 171 hosp.

Doña Ana County Oct 19: 4,765 cases, 94,225 tests (5.057% pos), 63 died, 2,439 rec. Oct 18: 4,663 cases, 93,819 tests (4.971% pos), 63 died, 2,421 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 19: 828,527 cases, 17,022 died, 729,762 rec, 4,319 hosp. Oct 18: 823,779 cases, 17,014 died, 726,231 rec, 4,226 hosp.  (Lab test positive: Oct 18: 8.43%, Oct 17: 8.18%, Oct. 14: 7.69%, Oct 11: 7.52%, 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%,)

El Paso County Oct 20: 34,035 cases, 366,114 tests (9.3% pos; 7-day aver: 12.42%), 560 died, 24,754 rec, 565 hosp. Oct 19: 32,758 cases, 357,299 tests (9.17% pos; 7-day aver: 12.65%), 557 died, 23,997 rec, 449 hosp.

Mexico Oct 20: 854,926 cases, 86,338 died. Oct 19: 851,227 cases, 86,167 died.

Estado Chihuahua Oct 19: 19,784 cases, 1,617 died, 10,424 rec. Oct 18: 19,404 cases, 1,606 died, 10,327 rec.

Ciudad Juarez Oct 19: 10,0432 cases, 992 died. Oct 18: 9,732 cases, 987 died.

United States Oct 20: 8,255,429 cases, 220,058 died. Oct 19: 8,188,764 cases, 219,537 died.

World Oct 20: 40,425,663 cases, 1,118,635 died. Oct 19: 40,050,902 cases (5,151/m), 1,113,750 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. Oct 16: Mass gathers in NM limited to five people; maximum hotel occupancy reduced to 60% for facilities that have completed a state-certified program, 25% that have not; any food or drink establishment serving alcohol must close at 10 p.m.

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

COVID-19, Coronavirus

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