COVID cases increase slightly in Taos County
CDC still has Taos County rated at ‘Low Level’
The COVID-19 case rate has increased slightly throughout Taos County (cases per 100,000 people per week) this past week. The county saw 16 new cases in the past week, compared to nine cases the week before, according to Town of Taos GIS Analyst Tim Corner. Meanwhile, cases continued to decline across the state and the country.
“Case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths are now declining slowly throughout the country and state,” said Corner in an email, adding that despite the increase in cases, “the absolute numbers are low… The CDC Community Levels system still has Taos County rated at the Low Level — in part due to the hospitals in our region of New Mexico having low numbers of COVID-19 admissions and bed utilization.”
In Taos County, the sevenday-average daily case count has decreased to 136 cases per week, compared to 144 the previous week. The total number of cases in the county is now at 5,319, and 5,169 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 89 since March 1. There have been 16 COVID-related deaths in Taos County in 2022. The last person to die of COVID in the county was a woman in her 70s who had underlying conditions.
While COVID cases decrease, experts say the virus is still rampant, with the BA.2 variant of Omicron now the main cause of all new cases in the U.S. Recently, vaccine companies Pfizer and Moderna have received FDA approval to begin offering a second round of booster shots for those over 50 years old (at least four months after their previous booster dose).
The New Mexico Department of Health reports that the state has seen more than 518,000 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020, with a death toll of 7,315. The CDC reports that more than 979,000 people have died in the U.S. due to COVID-19, and is reporting there are approximately 9,500 COVID hospitalizations nationwide.
Taos County residents (aged 18+) remain 89 percent fully vaccinated, 99 percent partially vaccinated and 59 percent boosted, according to Corner. For the state as a whole, 78 percent are fully vaccinated, 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 www.vaccinenm.org.
The New Mexico Department of Health has begun changing how they release data concerning COVID, and will no longer be producing daily press releases or holding weekly press conferences. Data will still be available on their website, cvprovider.nmhealth.org/ public-dashboard.html.