New Mexico health officials report 48 new deaths from COVID-19, a single-day high

Four Santa Fe County residents were among a record 48 COVID19 deaths reported Thursday by state health officials.

“I am very concerned that 48 may not be the highest number we see in the next several weeks,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a virtual news conference broadcast on Facebook.

There likely will be another spike in infections, hospitalizations and deaths after the holidays, she said, because many people will gather in large groups to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s.

“I’m expecting another bump [in COVD-19 numbers] in January,” Lujan Grisham said.

The newly reported fatalities in Santa Fe County included a woman in her 70s and three men, who ranged in age from 50 to 90 years old.

Also among the casualties were two Rio Arriba County women, both in their 80s; two Taos County women, one in her 80s and the other in her 90s; and a San Miguel County woman in her 90s. In all, the disease has killed 2,097 people in New Mexico.

The state’s previous one-day high was 44 deaths on Dec. 3 and Dec. 13.

The state also reported 1,702 new cases of the novel coronavirus, with 56 infections in Santa Fe County. New Mexico has had 126,045 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

State prisons recorded 75 new infections among inmates, including 21 at the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe, where dozens of inmates have filed a lawsuit accusing the facility of not protecting them from the virus.

There were 852 people hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday, with 162 patients on ventilators.