COVID cases rise 150 percent in Taos County
Hospitalizations and deaths remain low
The COVID-19 case rate has continued its gradual rise throughout Taos County (with 76 cases per 100,000 people per week) this past week. The county saw 25 new cases in the past week, compared to 10 cases the week before, according to Town of Taos GIS Analyst Tim Corner. Meanwhile, cases were up 11 percent throughout the state and 44 percent nationally.
In New Mexico, the sevenday-average daily case count has decreased to 163 cases per week, compared to 147 the previous week. The total number of cases in the county is now at 5,361. Meanwhile, 5,206 patients in Taos County are reported to have recovered from the virus.
No additional deaths were reported among Taos County residents in the past week, leaving the total number of deaths at 90 since the start of the pandemic. There have been a total of 17 COVIDrelated deaths in Taos County in 2022.
“Case counts are nudging upwards across the country and are higher in the Northeast than other parts of the country,” said Corner in an email. “The CDC’s community levels map continues to rate every county in New Mexico in the low level category. This is primarily because cases per 100k population remain below 200 across the state.”
However, Corner reminded that while case counts were increasing, “hospitalizations remain relatively low throughout the state. In fact, hospitalizations and deaths fell again in New Mexico last week.”
When COVID cases began to creep up in the past few weeks, New Mexico chose to renew some of its public health orders, including requiring masks in hospitals, state correctional facilities and schools — if the school has not made a masking decision otherwise.
The New Mexico Department of Health reports that the state has seen more than 521,000 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020, with a death toll of 7,456. The CDC reports that more than 988,000 people have died in the U.S. due to COVID-19, and is reporting there are approximately 10,340 hospitalizations nationwide, up from 5,848 hospitalizations last week.
Taos County residents (aged 18+) remain 89 percent fully vaccinated, 99 percent partially vaccinated and 59 percent boosted. For the state as a whole, 78 percent are fully vaccinated and 91 percent are partially vaccinated, and 46 percent have received a booster shot. For younger New Mexicans (aged 12–17), 62 percent are fully vaccinated and 71 percent are partially vaccinated. According to Corner, 31 percent of children aged 5-11 have been fully vaccinated and 39 percent have been partially vaccinated.
To get vaccinated, or sign up to get a booster shot, go to vaccinenm.org.