COVID-19 update: Monday, Sept. 28

COVID-19 Statistics (Monday, Sep 28, 2020 updates)

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

New Mexico 28,985 cases, 909,505 tests (3.1887% pos), 873 died, 16,422 rec, 75 hosp. Sep 27: 28,844 cases, 905,329 tests (3.1886%), 870 died, 16,301 rec, 66 hosp.

Doña Ana County 3,362 cases, 80,257 tests (4.189% pos), 55 died, 1,925 rec. Sep 27: 3,343 cases, 79,923 tests (4.183%), 55 died, 1,908 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 Sep 27: 735,132 cases, 15,522 died, 652,376 rec, 3,217 hosp. Lab test positivity rate:  Sep 26: 9.46%, Sep 24: 9.25%, Sep 23: 8.63%, Sep 22: 7.75%, Sep 20: 7.9%, Sep 19: 7.98%.

El Paso County 23,905 cases, 284,947 tests (8.39% pos; 7-day aver: 7.04%), 517 died, 19,704 rec, 151 hosp. Sep 25: 23,388 cases, 278,293 tests (8.4% pos; 7-day aver: 7.72%), 515 died, 19,389 rec, 144 hosp.

Mexico 730,317 cases, 76,430 died. Sep 25: 715,457 cases, 75,439 died.

Estado Chihuahua 15,195 cases, 1,379 died, 8,240 rec. Sep 26: 14,960 cases, 1,375 died, 7,888 rec.

Ciudad Juarez 7,441 cases, 861 died. Sep 25: 7,297 cases, 858 died.

USA 7,146,266 cases, 204,653 died. Sep 25: 7,015,311 cases, 202,945 died.

Worldwide 33,156,812 cases (4,264/m), 998,696 died. Sep 25: 32,356,829 cases (4,161/m), 984,590 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