Doña Ana leads NM counties in new cases

Statewide seven-day average hits record of 726

Doña Ana County surpassed Bernalillo County for new COVID-19 cases in New Mexico on Sunday as the state’s seven-day average hit another record.

The state also reported two new deaths, raising the toll to 967.

Doña Ana County reported 206 new cases Sunday as Bernalillo County reported 156, according to data provided by the Governor’s Office. Lea County reported 46, Luna County, where Deming is located, reported 44, and Chaves County reported 42. The state total was 828. Cases among prison inmates also surged. There were 40 new cases among state inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County and 23 new cases for federal detainees across the state, including 21 at the Otero County Prison Facility.

The state’s seven-day average of new cases hit a record of 726 on Sunday. The previous record, 671, was hit on Saturday.

The state now has a total of 41,863 cases, with 20,837 designated as having recovered.

There are 287 people hospitalized around the state, and 77 percent of general hospital beds and 50 percent of intensive care unit beds in New Mexico are occupied.

Those who died were a man in his 70s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions and a man in his 20s from Lincoln County who was reportedly not hospitalized and had no underlying health conditions.

The West Side homeless shelter in Albuquerque announced Sunday that it was resuming operations in anticipation of a cold front. The shelter stopped taking new residents earlier this month as it experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases and took remediation measures.

KVIA-TV in El Paso reports that the El Paso Convention Center will be converted to a hospital with up to 100 beds to help deal with the surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations in that city.