COVID cases increase in Taos and across the state

New Mexico exceeds 5,000 deaths tied to disease

Taos County saw a 41 percent increase in its COVID-19 case rate (cases per 100,000 people per week) from the previous week. In New Mexico, cases were up 12 percent, while nationally cases were down 13 percent during the same time period.

Taos County reported 56 new cases of COVID-19 from Oct. 19 to Oct. 25, compared to 40 new cases the week before, according to Town of Taos GIS Analyst Tim Corner.

The total number of cases in the county is now 2,383.

One death was reported – a man in his 50s with underlying conditions – bringing the total number of deaths in Taos County to 64.

Across New Mexico, 19 of 33 counties saw a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases.

The average daily case count increased to 797 cases per day last week, up from 710 the week before. Meanwhile, the average deaths per day in the state decreased to 9 per day, with a high of 11 deaths on Sept. 16.

McKinley County and Grant County have the highest case rates in the state, while case rates in the southeast region continued to experience a decline in cases.

Every county in the state but Los Alamos has high transmission rates (Los Alamos has a “substantial” transmission rate). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines high transmission as more than 100 new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days.

The New Mexico Department of Health reports that the state has seen more than 271,000 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020, with a death toll of 5,012. The CDC reports that more than 736,000 people have died in the U.S. due to COVID-19.

Taos County residents (aged 18 and older) are 85 percent fully vaccinated and 94 percent partially vaccinated, according to Corner. For the state as a whole, 72 percent are fully vaccinated and 82 percent are partially vaccinated. For younger New Mexicans (aged 12–17), 54 percent are fully vaccinated and 62 percent are partially vaccinated.