NM reports 5 virus deaths, 132 new cases

SANTA FE — New Mexico reported five more coronavirus deaths Monday and 132 new cases of the disease, leaving the state’s seven-day rolling averages well below peak levels.

The state is now averaging about 188 new virus cases a day over the past week, a slight uptick from the average through Sunday, but well below the peak of 330 cases on average in late July.

The five deaths push the statewide total to 690 since the pandemic reached New Mexico in March. The state has averaged about five deaths a day over the past week — or half of the peak in mid-May, when 10 residents died each day, on average.

Three of the five adults whose deaths were announced Monday had underlying medical conditions, a risk factor for the disease. The youngest victim was a man in his 20s from Lea County with underlying conditions.

The oldest were adults in theirs 60s, from Doña Ana and Luna counties, one of whom had a medical condition.

Lea County, in southeastern New Mexico, is emerging as something of a hot spot, with 23 more cases reported Monday, just three fewer than Bernalillo County, the most populous county.

Lea County, with 798 infections altogether, has the fifth-most cases per capita, according to a Journal analysis.

Statewide, New Mexico has now confirmed 22,444 cases of coronavirus out of 632,997 tests, for a positivity rate of about 3.5%.

But the positivity rate has fallen to 3% in the most recent seven-day period reported by the state, through Thursday of last week.