COVID-19 update: Tuesday, Sept. 8

COVID-19 Statistics (Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020 updates)

New Mexico 26,181 cases, 799,673 tests (3.24 pos), 807 died, 13,701 rec, 68 hosp. Sep 7: 26,144 cases, 795,247 tests (3.2876%), 807 died, 13,604 rec, 65 hosp.     

Doña Ana County 2,955 cases (three new cases, three deleted cases from previous counts), 71,681 tests (4.1225% pos), 45 died, 1,576 rec. Sep 7: 2,955 cases, 71,382 tests (4.14%), 48 died, 1,615 rec.

Texas 641,791 cases, 5,787,473 tests (11.0893% pos), 13,553 died, 553,409 rec, 3,701 hosp. Sep 7: 640,370 cases, 5,753,842 tests (11.1295%), 13,492 died, 543,412 rec, 3,537 hosp.

El Paso County 21,187 cases, 160,371 tests (13.21%), 448 died, 17,785 rec, 108 hosp. Sept. 7: 21,093 cases, 155,371 tests (13.576%), 464 died, 17,534 rec, 108 hosp.

Mexico 637,509 cases, 67,781 died, 446,715 rec. Sep 4: 616,894 cases, 66,329 died, 430,287 rec.

Estado Chihuahua 12,766 cases, 1,235 died, 6,384 rec. Sep 7: 12,707 cases, 1,227 died, 6,345 rec.

Ciudad Juarez 6,506 cases, 798 died. Sep 7: 6,506 cases, 793 died.

USA 6,325,807 cases, 189,187 died, 3,435,054 rec. Sep 4: 6,167,443 cases, 186,718 died, 3,373,378 rec.

Worldwide 27,392,203 cases (3,523/m), 897,713 died, 18,377,409 rec. Sep 4: 26,398,466 cases (3,395/m), 870,477 died, 17,565,712 rec.

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. announces 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. (Current N.M. public health orders are in effect thru Friday, Sept. 18.)

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% of those infected are asymptomatic.

A different virus, H1N1 influenza A, caused two global pandemics: 1) Spanish Flu: Feb 1918-Apr 1920, up to 500m cases, 50m died; world pop: 1.8b; in 2008; 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. 39-56m cases, 410-740t hospitalized, 24-62t died in the U.S. during the 2019-20 flu season (Oct 1, 2019-Apr 4, 2020); 9-45m cases, 140-810t hospitalized, 12-61t have died annually of flu in the U.S. since 2010. 250-500t deaths occur annually worldwide because of flu.

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

New Mexico public health orders https://cv.nmhealth.org/public-health-orders-and-executive-orders/

New Mexico Department of Health additional resources https://cv.nmhealth.org/

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