San Juan County's COVID cases up 52.1%; New Mexico cases surge 14.8%

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read
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FARMINGTON − New coronavirus cases leaped in New Mexico in the week ending Sunday, rising 14.8% as 1,864 cases were reported. The previous week had 1,623 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

New Mexico ranked 18th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

San Juan County reported 143 cases and no deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 94 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 47,555 cases and 830 deaths.

In New Mexico, six people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 28 people were reported dead.

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In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 16.4% from the week before, with 250,233 cases reported. With 0.63% of the country's population, New Mexico had 0.74% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, eight states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Within New Mexico, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Union County with 320 cases per 100,000 per week; De Baca County with 229; and Rio Arriba County with 200. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Bernalillo County, with 685 cases; Santa Fe County, with 217 cases; and San Juan County, with 143. Weekly case counts rose in 20 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Santa Fe, Bernalillo and San Juan counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Across New Mexico, cases fell in 12 counties, with the best declines in Otero County, with 42 cases from 58 a week earlier; in Sandoval County, with 140 cases from 155; and in Doña Ana County, with 65 cases from 78.

A total of 622,170 people in New Mexico have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 8,601 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 96,952,191 people have tested positive and 1,065,109 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

New Mexico's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Oct. 16. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 156

  • The week before that: 119

  • Four weeks ago: 143

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 50,945

  • The week before that: 49,442

  • Four weeks ago: 55,544

Hospitals in 23 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 21 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 29 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: San Juan County reported 143 new COVID-19 cases last week