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Lea County has one death due to COVID-19 and an unofficial second death

Hobbs News-Sun

Lea County has recorded its first official death due to COVID-19 and possibly a second.

The N.M. Department of Health announced on Tuesday a 70-year-old male, who had been hospitalized with underlying conditions had died.

Meanwhile on Facebook, a family of the 45-year-old Lovington woman announced she had died due to COVID-19 but that information was not released through the state’s daily update of COVID-19 numbers. The family said she died at a Lubbock hospital. Nor Lea Hospital also issued a press release confirming the death.

Lea County’s cumulative total added 32 positive case for COVID-19 Tuesday. This after having only one positive case on Monday but 35 positive cases on Sunday and 10 on Saturday.

The county now has a cumulative total of 411 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 out of 8,192 tests.

Of those 411 cases, the state says 74 have been designated as totally recovered.

Of those positive tests, 230 were for the 88240 or Hobbs zip code, 106 were for the 88260 or Lovington zip code, 43 cases were for the 88242 or north Hobbs zip code, 10 cases for 88231 or the Eunice zip code, two cases for the 88267 or Tatum zip code, 10 cases for the 88252 or Jal zip code and one case for the 88265 or the Monument area zip code.

Nine cases have not been assigned a location in Lea County, as of this posting.

No correctional facility in Lea County has had any positive tests for COVID-19, per the state health department.

With 411 cases, Lea County has had the most cases of any county in southeastern New Mexico. In nearby Eddy County now has 196 cases. To the north of Lea County, Roosevelt County has 92 cases and Curry has 327. Northwest of Lea County, Chaves County now has 223 cases.

As of today, there are 154 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

As of Tuesday, there are 6,870 COVID-19 cases designated as having recovered by the New Mexico Department of Health. The state has conducted 481,553 tests with cumulative total of 17,517 positive tests.

New Mexico state health officials on Tuesday announced 307 additional COVID-19 cases. Per the state Department of Health, the most recent cases are:

The Department of Health on Tuesday reported ten additional deaths in New Mexico related to COVID-19. They are:

The number of deaths of New Mexico residents related to COVID-19 is now 588.

Previously reported numbers included four cases that have been identified as duplicates (one case in Bernalillo County, one case Rio Arriba County, two cases in Santa Fe County) and one case that has been identified as out-of-state resident in Santa Fe County – these have now been corrected. Including the above newly reported cases, New Mexico has now had a total of 17,517 COVID-19 cases:

Bernalillo County: 3,920
Catron County: 4
Chaves County: 223
Cibola County: 271
Colfax County: 11
Curry County: 327
Doña Ana County: 1,786
Eddy County: 196
Grant County: 55
Guadalupe County: 26
Harding County: 1
Hidalgo County: 80
Lea County: 411
Lincoln County: 41
Los Alamos County: 16
Luna County: 165
McKinley County: 3,783
Mora County: 3
Otero County: 113
Quay County: 26
Rio Arriba County: 251
Roosevelt County: 92
Sandoval County: 942
San Juan County: 2,861
San Miguel County: 34
Santa Fe County: 436
Sierra County: 21
Socorro County: 67
Taos County: 71
Torrance County: 51
Union County: 14
Valencia County: 264

County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

The Department of Health currently reports the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:

The Department of Health currently reports the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by the New Mexico Corrections Department at the following facilities:

The Department of Health has identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days at the following long-term care and acute care facilities:

The Department of Health has detected community spread in the state of New Mexico and is investigating cases with no known exposure. The agency reports that given the infectious nature of the virus it is likely other residents are infected but yet to be tested or confirmed positive. To that end, all New Mexicans have been instructed to stay home except for outings absolutely necessary for health, safety and welfare. These additional restrictions have been enacted to aggressively minimize person-to-person contact and ensure spread is mitigated. New Mexicans are strongly urged to limit travel to only what is necessary for health, safety and welfare.

The New Mexico Department of Health has active investigations into the positive patients, which includes contact-tracing and swabs of symptomatic individuals who have had contact with the positive cases.

New Mexicans who report symptoms of COVID-19 infection, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and/or loss of taste or smell should call their health care provider or the NMDOH COVID-19 hotline immediately (1-855-600-3453).

Thanks to increased statewide testing capacity, the following people may now be considered for COVID-19 testing:

New Mexicans who have non-health-related questions or concerns can also call 833-551-0518 or visit newmexico.gov, which is being updated regularly as a one-stop source for information for families, workers and others affected by and seeking more information about COVID-19.

 

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