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COVID-19 Statistics (Wednesday, Sep 16, 2020 updates)
pos=positive; rec=recovered; hosp=hospitalized; vents=ventilators; b=billion; m=million; t=thousand
New Mexico 27,041 cases, 837,400 tests (3.2292% pos), 832 died, 14,842 rec, 59 hosp. Sep 15: 26,923 cases, 831,995 tests (3.236% pos), 830 died, 14,634 rec, 59 hosp.
Doña Ana County 3,047 cases, 74,599 tests (4.085% pos), 52 died, 1,740 rec. Sep 15: 3,038 cases, 74,303 tests (4.088% pos), 51 died, 1,722 rec.
Regional hospitals (Doña Ana, Luna, Catron, Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Hidalgo, Otero counties) Sep 8: 9 cases; 53 of 112 ICU beds, 17 of 82 vents in use. (ICU/vents are all patients, not just COVID.) Aug 26: 13 cases, 50 ICU, 13 vents. Aug 19: 17 cases; 47 ICU, 17 vents. Aug 12: 21 cases; 55 ICU, 14 vents.
Texas 674,722 cases, 14,478 died, 590,837 rec, 3,249 hosp. Sep 15: 668,746 cases, (lab test positivity rate: 8.86%), 14,343 died, 585,912 rec, 3,311 hosp. Sep 14 lab test positivity rate Sep 14: 8.98%
El Paso County 21,965 cases, 259,604 tests (8.46% pos), 474 died, 18,535 rec, 119 hosp. Sep 15: 21,826 cases, 257,655 tests (8.47%), 467 died, 18,468 rec, 115 hosp. (Began using county, not state, test numbers Sep 15)
Mexico 676,487 cases, 71,678 died, 481,068 rec. Sep 15: 671,716 cases, 71,049 died, 475,795 rec.
Estado Chihuahua Sep 15: 13,552 cases, 1,290 died, 6,867 rec.
Ciudad Juarez Sep 15: 6,757 cases, 815 died.
USA 6,614,112 cases, 195,638 died, 3,627,912 rec. Sep 15: 6,585,061 cases, 194,713 died, 3,612,064 rec.
Worldwide 29,624,865 cases (3,810/m), 936,313 died, 20,129,145 rec. Sep 15: 29,365,289 cases (3,776/m), 930,311 died, 19,912,116 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% of capacity; retail stores, malls, houses of worship at 25% Jul 13 N.M. bans indoor dining; limits gyms, close-contact businesses to 25% of capacity. Aug 29 N.M. restores indoor dining at 25% of capacity; increases houses of worship to 40%; museums with static displays can open at 25% of capacity; mass gatherings limited to 10 people. (Current N.M. public health orders 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% 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
