New Map Shows 32 Counties Turquoise—But Maybe Not For Long

Education Secretary Dr. Ryan Stewart says COVID-19 cases decreasing in schools

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As of today, 32 New Mexico counties can operate at the turquoise, or least restrictive, level of the state’s red-to-green county framework and one, Chaves County, at green. No counties are at the yellow or red levels.

Under new metrics implemented April 30, counties must have 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 populations measured over a 14-day period, along with a test positivity rate of 7.5% or less. A third metric, vaccination rates, required a 45% full vaccination rate for today’s evaluation, and will increase every two weeks by 5%.

Counties that fail to meet any criteria classify as red; one metric equals yellow; two out of three qualifies for green and, in theory, counties must satisfy all the metrics to be considered turquoise. Counties can also turn turquoise if they qualify as green for two consecutive evaluation periods.

This week, 19 counties met the 45% full vaccination benchmark, including Santa Fe County, where 60.6% of residents have been fully vaccinated. Santa Fe County also has 8.2 cases per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of 2.88%.

However, only three counties were re-evaluated in today’s update, as the state now assesses turquoise counties every four weeks, rather than every other week. On June 2, 31 counties will be evaluated. The four-week lag, combined with the more relaxed metrics, means that some counties that are currently turquoise would, in fact, be red or yellow under the previous system and might be when re-evaluated June 2.

For instance, Quay County, which is turquoise and therefore operating under the most relaxed rules, currently has a 40.8 case rate, a 13.6% test positivity rate and 31.3% vaccination rate.

“You can see, there are four counties that would actually be yellow and three that would be red...another way of thinking about this, this is what the map is going to look like two weeks form now if nothing else changes,” Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said, referring to the map below, shown during a COVID-19 update today with Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins and Education Secretary Dr. Ryan Stewart.

The state intends to end the color-coded system when 60% of eligible New Mexicans have been fully vaccinated. New Mexico appears to be on track to meet that goal. As of today, 52.9% of residents have been fully vaccinated—exceeding the 45% target for this time period set by health officials. “So, we’re doing really, really well in terms of meeting vaccinating targets,” Scrase said, “and that’s helping many but not all counties.”

The vaccination progress includes New Mexico students. The state began vaccinating eligible 16 and 17 year olds on April 5 and those 12 years and older May 13. According to new data from the DOH vaccine dashboard, 34.1% in the 16- to -17-year-old age group have had at least one dose and 23.9% are fully vaccinated. In the 12-to-15 group, 7.2% have had one dose (based on state data, as federal figures that for that age group are not yet available).

Moreover, Stewart said, COVID-19 cases in schools are decreasing: 192 during the current week, a 41% decrease from the week prior. In April, he said, of the 200,670 students and staff on campuses, 96.6% were not infectious. And in those cases where unvaccinated people had exposure, quarantines were in place to prevent spread. “Even in those instances where COVID has shown up at the school, we have the right systems in place to keep it from spreading to others,” he said.

Still, Collins advised adults to keep a look-out for any signs of a multi-system inflammatory syndrome that can affect children. “I want to highlight it’s important for us to remember our kids,” Collins said. “It really is presenting with severe abdominal pain, heart dysfunction, low blood pressure and fever.” New Mexico has 23 cases. “It just highlights that we need to continue with our COVID-safe practices.”

And, of course, officials touched on the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people, rolled out without much warning last week. “They are hearing our concerns that we probably should have been given a lot more head ups on what’s was coming,” Collins said in response to a question regarding DOH’s communication with the federal agency.

Both Collins and Scrase agreed an “honor” system—trusting unvaccinated people to continue wearing masks—was likely better than expecting businesses and other locations to question customers and require proof. “We want to avoid altercations,” Scrase said. “We know some of these issues unfortunately have become politicized. We don’t want business owners putting themselves at risk. We’re in this home stretch and we may be in a place where these concerns won’t be as relevant eight weeks from now 12 weeks from now.”

Unvaccinated people, however, are increasingly at risk to contract COVID-19, as the variants are more transmissible, with the B.1.17 variant now the predominant strain in the state. “I think the rest of the pandemic in New Mexico is going to be occurring in unvaccinated individuals,” Scrase said. “The variant infecting most New Mexicans is twice as likely to spread if you’re unvaccinated and not wearing a mask.”

New Mexico health officials today reported 160 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 201,489. The health department has designated 186,901 of those cases as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 53 cases, followed by Santa Fe County with 16 and San Juan and Doña Ana counties with 12.

The state also announced four additional deaths, including the 146th from Santa Fe County: a man in his 70s who had been hospitalized. There have now been 4,122 fatalities.

As of today, 156 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.*

New cases

  • 53 new cases in Bernalillo County
  • 1 new case in Catron County
  • 7 new cases in Chaves County
  • 1 new case in Cibola County
  • 6 new cases in Colfax County
  • 1 new case in Curry County
  • 12 new cases in Doña Ana County
  • 3 new cases in Eddy County
  • 2 new cases in Grant County
  • 1 new case in Harding County
  • 1 new case in Lea County
  • 1 new case in Los Alamos County
  • 1 new case in Luna County
  • 6 new cases in McKinley County
  • 3 new cases in Otero County
  • 10 new cases in Rio Arriba County
  • 4 new cases in Roosevelt County
  • 6 new cases in Sandoval County
  • 12 new cases in San Juan County
  • 16 new cases in Santa Fe County
  • 1 new case in Sierra County
  • 2 new cases in Taos County
  • 2 new cases in Torrance County
  • 7 new cases in Valencia County
  • 1 new case among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Processing Center

New fatalities

  • A female in her 80s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized, had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Genesis Healthcare Uptown facility in Albuquerque
  • A male in his 50s from Doña Ana County who had underlying conditions
  • A male in his 70s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized
  • A male in his 60s from Valencia 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:

  • Albuquerque Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
  • The Aristocrat Assisted Living Center in Alamogordo
  • Aztec Healthcare in Aztec
  • Bear Canyon Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
  • BeeHive Homes Clovis
  • Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Belen
  • Canyon Transitional Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
  • Casa de Oro in Las Cruces
  • Desert Peaks Assisting Living and Memory Care in Las Cruces
  • Genesis Healthcare Uptown in Albuquerque
  • Genesis Rio Rancho Center
  • Genesis Silver City Care Center in Silver City
  • Good Samaritan Society Las Cruces
  • Homes with a Heart Assisted Living - Raven House in Albuquerque
  • Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
  • The Meadows Home at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas
  • New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences
  • Princeton Place in Albuquerque
  • The Rehabilitation Center of Albuquerque
  • Retirement Ranches in Clovis
  • The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
  • Sierra Health Care Center in Truth or Consequences
  • Sunset Vista Senior Living Center in Silver City
  • Vista Hermosa in Santa Fe
  • Welbrook Senior Living in Las Cruces

Statewide cases

According to a health department news release, previously reported numbers included three cases in Bernalillo County that were not lab confirmed; four cases have been determined to be out-of-state residents (two in Bernalillo County and two in McKinley County)—these have now been corrected. Additionally, four case previously reported in Doña Ana has been determined to be among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Processing Center and is now reported as such. County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

  • Bernalillo County: 58,080
  • Catron County: 94
  • Chaves County: 8,988
  • Cibola County: 2,884
  • Colfax County: 770
  • Curry County: 5,231
  • De Baca County: 167
  • Doña Ana County: 24,782
  • Eddy County: 6,856
  • Grant County: 1,717
  • Guadalupe County: 408
  • Harding County: 11
  • Hidalgo County: 363
  • Lea County: 8,298
  • Lincoln County: 1,720
  • Los Alamos County: 528
  • Luna County: 3,352
  • McKinley County: 12,323
  • Mora County: 171
  • Otero County: 3,964
  • Quay County: 513
  • Rio Arriba County: 3,613
  • Roosevelt County: 1,985
  • Sandoval County: 12,024
  • San Juan County: 15,212
  • San Miguel County: 1,355
  • Santa Fe County: 10,379
  • Sierra County: 774
  • Socorro County: 1,318
  • Taos County: 1,675
  • Torrance County: 795
  • Union County: 250
  • Valencia County: 6,764

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

  • Cibola County Correctional Center: 445
  • Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 444
  • Otero County Processing Center: 207
  • 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: 298
  • Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 252
  • Lea County Correctional Facility: 762
  • Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 167
  • Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 128
  • Otero County Prison Facility: 473
  • Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 218
  • Roswell Correctional Center: 229
  • 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.