Quay reports two confirmed cases

Quay County last week experienced two confirmed cases of COVID-19, including one on Friday.

One case was reported in the Logan ZIP code, and the other was in the San Jon ZIP code.

The county's overall case total rose to 541, with 11 deaths, since the pandemic began in spring 2020.

The breakdown of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 373 in Tucumcari, 107 in Logan, 27 in San Jon, 11 in House, nine in McAlister, five in Nara Visa, five in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County), and five in Bard.

A total of 526 people in the county were deemed by the New Mexico Department of Health to have recovered from the virus.

These recent COVID-19 rapid responses were recorded at Quay County entities, according to the state’s database:

• San Jon Port of Entry, two cases reported July 12.

A typical rapid response consists of isolating positive cases, quarantining close contacts, 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, 188 new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, bringing the overall total to more than 207,000 since the pandemic began.

The seven-day case number has risen from a low this year of 60 in late June to 125 last week — another indication the more-contagious Delta variant of the virus was causing an upsurge.

New Mexico Human Services Secretary David Scrase said in a briefing Wednesday that cases were slowly trending upward in the U.S. because of the variant, mostly an areas with low vaccination rates. He said the variant was accounting for three-fourths of the new infections in western states of the U.S.

Scrase said New Mexico’s case numbers were rising more slowly because of its higher vaccination rate.

“We in a good spot in New Mexico with all the vaccinations we’ve done,” he said.

Scrase anticipated, however, a sizable uptick in the state in August.

Seven COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the total at 4,379.

A total of 91 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, an increase of 14 from the previous week. It was the second straight week the state had seen an increase in its COVID-19 hospitalization numbers.

More than 900 people were hospitalized with the disease during the pandemic’s peak this winter.

The Amarillo metro region on Friday totaled 331 active cases of the disease, a rise of about more than 150 from the previous week.

In the U.S., more than 34 million people have been confirmed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with more than 608,000 deaths, through Friday.

According to state data Friday, 42.1% of Quay County residents have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus. That was an increase of 0.3% from the previous week.

About 46.2% of Quay County residents have received one shot of COVID-19 vaccine through Friday, an increase of 0.1%.

New Mexico’s full vaccination rate inched up to 63.9% as of Friday, and nearly 72% had received at least one dose of vaccine.