New Mexico counties will be re-evaluated tomorrow for case and test positivity rates, with Santa Fe County appearing on track to remain green and, thus, turn turquoise and open up even further.
Every other week, the health department evaluates counties' case and test positivity rates for a two-week period under its red-to-green framework. Counties with fewer than eight cases per 100,000 and test positivity rates of less than 5% are classified as green and allowed larger business capacities and other activities. Those meeting one criteria are considered yellow and those meeting neither are red and face the most restrictions. On Feb. 24, the state added an even more expansive turquoise level for those counties that maintain their green status for two consecutive evaluations.
Two weeks ago, Santa Fe County turned green with 5.90 cases per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of 1.40%, again both calculated over a two-week period. Calculating case and test positivity rates in advance of tomorrow, as SFR has done in the past, seems increasingly difficult as both rely on daily case counts and test numbers, and while the health department releases those figures, it does so noting they are "raw data…that has not yet been scrutinized to identify potential duplicates or late-arriving positives or negatives." With that being said, Santa Fe County's raw count for daily cases for the last two weeks, as of today remains below the required 168 cases over two weeks; we calculate a case rate of 6.7, but, again, do not have accurate numbers with which to work. The test positivity rate, at least based on the raw data, would appear to be in the vicinity of 1.7%.
Assuming Santa Fe County does stay green and, thus, turn turquoise, businesses and individuals will be under the fewest restrictions available under the state's public health law. For instance, restaurants under the green level can have a maximum of 50% capacity for indoor dining; that will increase to 75% in the turquoise level. Bars and clubs have no indoor capacity under green and 25% of maximum capacity of any outdoor space. Under turquoise, bars and clubs can open at 33% indoors and 75% outdoors. In a significant shift, mass gatherings, limited to 20 people and 120 vehicles under green, increase to 150 people or 200 vehicles at turquoise. Find all the details for the different levels of the public health law here.
New Mexico health officials today reported 174 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 190,064. The health department has designated 172,924 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo County had the highest number of new cases: 75, followed by Dona Ana County with 20 cases. Santa Fe County had six new cases.
The health department today also announced the launch of a COVID-19 exposure app in New Mexico: NMNotify.com. As SFR reported in September, 2020, the state previously said it wasn't ready to launch a digital contact-tracing app, leading to several schools and other entities either creating their own or using ones already available. The City of Santa Fe, for example, signed a contract with the NOVID tracing app at the end of the year.
The state also announced 11 additional deaths from seven counties; there have now been 3,903 fatalities.
As of today, 127 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.*
New cases
- 75 new cases in Bernalillo County
- 2 new cases in Chaves County
- 1 new case in Cibola County
- 1 new case in Curry County
- 20 new cases in Doña Ana County
- 8 new cases in Eddy County
- 1 new case in Guadalupe County
- 1 new case in Lea County
- 1 new case in Los Alamos County
- 7 new cases in Luna County
- 3 new cases in McKinley County
- 5 new cases in Otero County
- 1 new case in Quay County
- 4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
- 17 new cases in Sandoval County
- 9 new cases in San Juan County
- 6 new cases in Santa Fe County
- 3 new cases in Sierra County
- 1 new case in Socorro County
- 1 new case in Torrance County
- 7 new cases in Valencia County
New fatalities
- A male in his 80s from Bernalillo County
- A male in his 80s from Curry County who was hospitalized
- A male in his 90s from Curry County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
- A male in his 50s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized
- A female in her 60s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized
- A female in her 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
- A female in her 80s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized
- A male in his 80s from Eddy County who had underlying conditions
- A male in his 80s from Lea County who was hospitalized
- A female in her 70s from Rio Arriba County who had underlying conditions
- A male in his 60s from Roosevelt County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
Congregate facilities
The Department of Health has identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days at the following facilities:
- Advanced Health Care in Albuquerque
- Albuquerque Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
- Avamere at Fiesta Park in Albuquerque
- Bear Canyon Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
- BeeHive Homes Farmington
- Calibre Sagecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Las Cruces
- Casa del Sol Center in Las Cruces
- Casa Sandia in Albuquerque
- Clovis Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Clovis
- Desert Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Hobbs
- Good Life Senior Living in Carlsbad
- Good Samaritan Society – Betty Dare in Alamogordo
- Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
- La Vida Llena Assisted Living in Albuquerque
- Mission Arch Center in Roswell
- MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Albuquerque
- The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
- Pacifica Senior Living in Santa Fe
- Princeton Place in Albuquerque
- Retirement Ranches in Clovis
- The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
- Santa Fe Care Center in Santa Fe
- Senior Living Systems in Los Lunas
- Suites at Rio Vista in Rio Rancho
- Vecinos Santos Assisted Living in Santa Rosa
- Welbrook Senior Living in Las Cruces
- The Woodmark at Uptown in Albuquerque
Statewide cases
County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.
- Bernalillo County: 54,192
- Catron County: 83
- Chaves County: 8,708
- Cibola County: 2,807
- Colfax County: 718
- Curry County: 5,011
- De Baca County: 133
- Doña Ana County: 23,576
- Eddy County: 6,627
- Grant County: 1,590
- Guadalupe County: 367
- Harding County: 9
- Hidalgo County: 351
- Lea County: 8,173
- Lincoln County: 1,577
- Los Alamos County: 495
- Luna County: 3,201
- McKinley County: 12,113
- Mora County: 168
- Otero County: 3,567
- Quay County: 426
- Rio Arriba County: 3,449
- Roosevelt County: 1,858
- Sandoval County: 11,211
- San Juan County: 13,655
- San Miguel County: 1,311
- Santa Fe County: 9,788
- Sierra County: 713
- Socorro County: 1,234
- Taos County: 1,599
- Torrance County: 672
- Union County: 244
- Valencia County: 6,339
Cases among people being held by federal agencies
- Cibola County Correctional Center: 446
- Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 443
- Otero County Processing Center: 197
- Torrance County Detention Facility: 47
Cases among people being held by the New Mexico Department of Corrections
- Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 292
- Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 251
- Lea County Correctional Facility: 758
- Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 167
- Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 126
- Otero County Prison Facility: 472
- Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 215
- Roswell Correctional Center: 230
- Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 229
- Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
- Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 75
*Per the health department, hospitalization figures include people who were tested elsewhere but are hospitalized in New Mexico, but don't include people who were tested here but are hospitalized out of state.
