BA.2 variant pushes COVID-19 cases upward in New Mexico

Algernon D'Ammassa, Las Cruces Sun-News
·3 min read

Daily reported cases of COVID-19 continued to rise in New Mexico, with 1,117 reported in the week between April 18 and 25, according to weekly reports from the state Department of Health.

That was an increase from 979 the week before, following a trend of increased reported cases week over week during April.

Health officials have acknowledged that daily cases are, more than ever, undercounting the true number of cases as New Mexico relies more on at-home testing rather than lab-confirmed tests that are reported to the health department.

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A New Mexico Department of Health graph from April 25, 2022 depicts daily COVID-19 cases, with the broken line representing 7-day rolling averages.
A New Mexico Department of Health graph from April 25, 2022 depicts daily COVID-19 cases, with the broken line representing 7-day rolling averages.

An increase in infections had been anticipated as the BA.2 subvariant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is now associated with more than 68 percent of current cases nationwide, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A fellow descendant of the highly contagious omicron variant, BA.2.12.1, now accounts for 28.7 percent of those U.S. cases; and in South Africa, subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are associated with new surges in cases there.

Health officials have prioritized hospitalizations and deaths over daily case rates and test positivity.

On Thursday, the health department reported 39 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, with three requiring ventilators. Earlier in April, the health department said some New Mexico hospitals remained full, but not with COVID-19 patients.

Downtown traffic is reflected in the window of COAS Books in Las Cruces, N.M., where a sign in the window requests customers maintain physical distance during the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday, April 28, 2022.
Downtown traffic is reflected in the window of COAS Books in Las Cruces, N.M., where a sign in the window requests customers maintain physical distance during the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday, April 28, 2022.

State acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said the current "run on hospital beds" was for patients with chronic conditions or illnesses that were diagnosed late during 2020 and 2021, which was attributed to the pandemic.

The official death toll from COVID-19 as of Thursday was 7,484, and included 19 new fatalities reported that day. While the recovery rate from COVID-19 has always been high, the disease also had a high case fatality rate compared to influenza (with which COVID-19 shares many common symptoms), at 1.43 percent.

Vaccinations continued to demonstrate effectiveness against severe disease and mortality, with showing that patients who had not completed a primary series of vaccine accounted for 58 percent of cases since February, 75.7 percent of hospitalizations and 79 percent of deaths.

A majority of New Mexico adults have completed a course of vaccine with at least one booster, per health department data: 68.2 percent as of April 25, while 80 percent have at least completed a course of Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

More: BA.2 variant of COVID-19 is spreading in New Mexico, but hospitalizations lower than in March

A graph compares COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among unvaccinated, fully vaccinated and vaccinated/boosted patients from February through April 25, 2022. Large majorities in all three categories are among those who had not completed a course of vaccine.
A graph compares COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among unvaccinated, fully vaccinated and vaccinated/boosted patients from February through April 25, 2022. Large majorities in all three categories are among those who had not completed a course of vaccine.

And 7 percent, more than 78,000 people, have received a second booster dose, available to people over 50 or who are immunocompromised.

Nearly 270,000 New Mexicans age 65 or over, comprising 82.6 percent of that cohort, were fully vaccinated with a booster, and 55,000 of them had taken a second one.

Among minors, 62 percent of those between 12 and 17 had completed a vaccine series, while more than 43 percent had taken a booster. Among the age 5 through 11 group, for whom boosters are not available, 32.5 percent had completed a series.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New BA.2 variant pushes COVID-19 cases upward in New Mexico