Two new cases confirmed in Quay County

The New Mexico Department of Health reported two new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County on Sunday, bringing the total to 18 during in the past seven days.

Both cases Sunday were men in their 60s in the Tucumcari ZIP code.

No cases in the county were reported Monday.

The most recent seven-day period proved to be a slowdown from the previous seven days that saw 23 cases, but it remained above the rate in late December when COVID-19 cases largely plateaued in the county.

The total number of cases in Quay County since the pandemic began rose to 381, with eight deaths.

The breakdown by ZIP code through Sunday was 294 in Tucumcari, 53 in Logan, nine in House, eight in McAlister, seven in San Jon, four in Nara Visa, three in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County) and two in Bard. One case in the county remains unaccounted for in the agency’s map by ZIP code.

Everyone’s Federal Credit Union in Tucumcari on Jan. 12 was placed on the state’s COVID-19 watch list after recording two cases among employees there during a 14-day period. Both those cases were accounted for in the state’s rapid-response database on Jan. 11. The public health order mandates that certain establishments close for two weeks if they have four or more rapid responses within 14 days.

A COVID-19 rapid response also was referred to the Quay County Assessor’s Office in Tucumcari for one employee case reported Jan. 12.

A typical rapid response consists of isolating positive cases, quarantining close contacts for 14 days, ceasing operations to the extent necessary to isolate affected areas, disinfecting these areas, implementing safety procedures and resuming operations. Typically, operations are ceased for fewer than 24 hours before it is safe to reopen.

In New Mexico, a total of 751 new COVID-19 cases were reported Monday, bringing the overall total to more than 164,000 since the pandemic began.

After a brief post-holidays spike, the seven-day average for cases in New Mexico has fallen to 1,026, a drop of more than 300 from that peak.

A total of 26 deaths were reported Monday, increasing that total to 2,958.

A total of 611 people were hospitalized with the disease, a total that has been trending downward sharply in recent days. Human Services Secretary David Scrase cautioned that while the trend is welcome, numerous hospitals across the state remain full because this generally is the time of year where many people get sick. He said half of the state’s hospitals also are dealing with staffing shortages.

The Amarillo metro region on Friday, the latest day available, reported more than 3,100 active cases of the disease with a 22% hospitalization rate, both numbers which have been stable in recent days.

In the U.S., the total number of coronavirus cases rose to more than 24 million, with more than 398,000 deaths, through Monday.