Cases drop as hospitalizations continue to rise

Seven-day death average falls from last week’s record

The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases and deaths in New Mexico continues to dip dramatically.

Hospitalizations continue to climb, however, as 919 people were hospitalized with the disease as of Sunday, a huge jump from the 854 hospitalizations reported Saturday.

On Sunday, the state reported 1,443 new COVID-19 cases — the lowest number of new cases since the state recorded 1,252 on Nov. 16.

The seven-day average for new cases on Sunday was 1,933, and the average continues to fall since the state reached a record average of 2,672 last Monday.

The Governor’s Office also reported 13 new coronavirus-related deaths Sunday. The state reached a record seven-day death average of 25.47 on Friday. On Sunday, the average was 22.43.

The total number of deaths due to the disease is now 1,540. The people whose deaths were reported Sunday were:

■ Three men, two in their 80s and one in his 50s, from Bernalillo County. All had underlying health conditions, and two were hospitalized.

■ A woman in her 60s from Colfax County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

■ A woman in her 70s from Doña Ana County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

■ A woman in her 60s from Lea County who was hospitalized.

■ A man in his 70s from Lea County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

■ A woman in her 30s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

■ A woman in her 60s from Otero County who was hospitalized.

■ A man in his 70s from Sandoval County.

■ A woman in her 40s from San Juan County.

■ A man in his 80s from San Juan County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

■ A man in his 80s from Taos County. Bernalillo County led the state Sunday, with 356 new cases. Doña Ana County reported 167, Chaves County — home to Roswell — had 135, Sandoval County had 101, Santa Fe County had 92, McKinley County had 88 and San Juan County had 82.

There were 15 new cases among state inmates at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility.

The state has had a total of 95,417 cases, with 32,050 recoveries.

Starting Wednesday, the state will relax some of the business restrictions that were in place for two weeks by allowing limited outdoor dining and letting gyms and salons operate at a limited capacity.