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CORONAVIRUS

COVID-19 update: Thursday, Oct. 8

Posted

COVID-19 Statistics (Update: approximately 11 a.m. MDT, Thursday, Oct 8, 2020)

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

New Mexico Oct 7: 31,372 cases, 965,319 tests (3.25% pos), 896 died, 17,766 rec, 109 hosp. Oct 6: 30,947 cases, 960,945 tests (3.2205% pos), 894 died, 17,489 rec, 110 hosp.

Doña Ana County Oct 7: 3,783 cases, 84,950 tests (4.453% pos), 59 died, 2,104 rec. Oct 6: 3,713 cases, 84,749 tests (4.381% pos), 59 died, 2,071 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 7: 777,556 cases, 16,230 died, 692,123 rec, 3,519 hosp. Oct 6: 773,435 cases, 16,111 died, 687,277 rec, 3,394 hosp. (Lab test positivity rate: 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%, Sep 22: 7.75%, Sep 20: 7.9%)

El Paso County Oct 8: 26,969 cases, 311,409 tests (8.66% pos; 7-day aver: 12.13%), 541 died, 21,370 rec, 199 hosp. Oct 7: 26,432 cases, 307,636 tests (8.59% pos; 7-day aver: 10.03%), 537 died, 21,144 rec, 206 hosp.

Mexico Oct 8: 799,188 cases, 82,726 died. Oct 7: 794,608 cases, 82,348 died.

Estado Chihuahua Oct 7: 16,714 cases, 1,468 died, 9,386 rec. Oct 6: 16,482 cases, 1,458 died, 9,292 rec.

Ciudad Juarez Oct 7: 8,150 cases, 889 died. Oct 6: 8,043 cases, 885 died.

United States Oct 8: 7,582,317 cases, 211,750 died. Oct 7: 7,529,481 cases, 210,750 died.

World Oct 8: 36,238,849 cases (4,660/m), 1,057,102 died. Oct 7: 35,906,341 cases (4,618/m), 1,051,446 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

COVID-19, Coronavirus

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