Outbreak in Torrance County facility fuels COVID spike in New Mexico

The Santa Fe New Mexican
·1 min read

Aug. 4—Ninety-four infections among people being held at the Torrance County Detention Facility near Estancia helped spur a spike that put New Mexico close to 500 coronavirus cases Tuesday.

In another troubling sign the virus is beginning to regain its grip on New Mexico, the state Department of Health said 180 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

The agency reported New Mexico had 478 new cases, including those among people being held by federal agencies at the facility in Torrance County and five new cases at the Otero County Processing Center in Southern New Mexico.

The Torrance County facility is operated by CoreCivic.

In addition, another New Mexican died from COVID-19: a man in his 60s from Eddy County who had been hospitalized.

Since the crisis began, 4,415 state residents have died.

The county-by-county report included eight new cases in Santa Fe County and seven in Rio Arriba County. Bernalillo County led the state with 132 new cases, but even some of New Mexico's most lightly populated areas are again seeing infections. De Baca County had six cases, and Quay, Catron and Hidalgo counties each had one.