COVID-19 update: Thursday, Aug. 27

COVID-19 Statistics (Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020 updates)

New Mexico 24,920 cases, 740,366 tests (3.366% pos), 764 died, 12,446 recovered, 68 hospitalized. Aug 26: 24,732 cases, 734,220 tests (3.3685%), 755 died, 12,193 recovered, 71 hospitalized. Aug 25: Spread rate: 0.91, 10-day rolling average, goal: 1.05 or less; daily cases: 118, 7-day rolling average; goal: 168; 6,532 tests per day, 7-day rolling average, goal: 5,000.

Doña Ana County 2,772 cases, 66,430 tests (4.173% pos), 41 died, 1,472 recovered. Aug 26: 2,752 cases, 66,012 tests (4.169%), 40 died, 1,442 recovered.

Regional (hospitalizations in Doña Ana, Luna, Catron, Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Hidalgo, Otero counties) Aug 26: 13 admissions; 50 of 112 ICU beds, 13 of 82 ventilators in use. Aug 19: 17 adms; 47 ICU, 17 vents. Aug 12: 21 adms; 55 ICU, 14 vents. Aug 4: 24 adms; 58 ICU, 16 vents. ICU/vent figures are all patients, including COVID.

Texas No update. Aug 26: 592,137 cases, 5,168,745 tests (11.4561%), 11,805 died, 472,421 recovered, 4,806 hospitalized.

El Paso County 19,925 cases, 410 died, 16,413 recovered, 134 hospitalized. Aug 26: 19,753 cases, 136,623 tests (14.458%), 399 died, 16,210 recovered, 131 hospitalized.

Mexico 573,888 cases, 62,076 died, 396,758 recovered. Aug 26: 568,621 cases, 61,450 died, 393,101 rec.

Estado Chihuahua 11,314 cases, 1,130 died, 5,514 recovered. Aug 26: 11,195 cases, 1,122 died, 5,478 rec.

Ciudad Juarez 5,845 cases, 757 died. Aug 26: 5,813 cases, 751 died.

USA 5,837,845 cases, 179,604 died, 3,002,904 rec. Aug 26: 5,803,721 cases, 178,779 died, 2,980,604 rec.

Worldwide 24,011,502 cases (3,088/m), 821,909 died, 15,636,116 recovered. Aug 26: 23,903,870 cases (3,074/m), 819,609 died, 15,584,411 recovered.

Population estimates 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. announces first case, declares state public health emergency Mar 13 U.S. declares national health emergency Mar 23 N.M. closes nonessential businesses June 1 N.M. allows limited indoor dining Jul 13 N.M. bans indoor dining, limits close-contact businesses to 25% of capacity. Aug 29 N.M. restores indoor dining at 25% of capacity, 40% occupancy for houses of worship.

What is COVID-19?  

Coronaviruses cause diseases in mammals and birds. They were discovered in 1931 among domesticated chickens in North Dakota. The first human coronavirus, discovered in 1965, was isolated in the U.S. and UK. At least seven strains of human coronavirus are known. The name comes from the Latin corona (“crown”) because of protein spikes on the surface of the virus that create a crown-like appearance.

Coronaviruses cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). 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% of those infected are asymptomatic.

A different virus, H1N1 influenza A, has caused two global pandemics: 1) Spanish Flu (Feb 1918-Apr 1920, up to 500m infected, 50m died; world pop: 1.8b); 2) Swine Flu (Jan 2009-Aug 2010; 491,382 known/700m-1.4b estimated infected, 150-575t died; world pop: 6.8b). Worldwide: 250-500t seasonal flu deaths annually. U.S.: 39-56m infected, 410-740t hospitalized, 24-62t died during 2019-20 flu season (Oct 1, 2019-Apr 4, 2020); 9-45m infected, 140-810t hospitalized, 12-61t have died annually of flu since 2010.

COVID-19 Information Online

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

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov

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

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

N.M. public health orders https://cv.nmhealth.org/public-health-orders-and-executive-orders/

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

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

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

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